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A S I S I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Organizational Resilience:
Security, Preparedness, and Continuity
Management Systems–Requirements with
Guidance for Use
ASIS SPC.1-2009

AMERICAN NATIONAL
STANDARD
ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

ASIS SPC.1-2009

an American National Standard for Security

ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE: SECURITY, PREPAREDNESS,


AND CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS –
REQUIREMENTS WITH GUIDANCE FOR USE

Approved March 12, 2009


American National Standards Institute, Inc.

Abstract
A comprehensive management systems approach for security, preparedness, response, mitigation,
business/operational continuity, and recovery for disruptive incidents resulting in an emergency, crisis, or disaster.
ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

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Copyright © 2009 ASIS International

ISBN: 978-1-887056-92-2

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

FOREWORD
The information contained in this Foreword is not part of this American National Standard (ANS) and has not been
processed in accordance with ANSI’s requirements for an ANS. As such, this Foreword may contain material that has
not been subjected to public review or a consensus process. In addition, it does not contain requirements necessary
for conformance to the Standard.
ANSI guidelines specify two categories of requirements: mandatory and recommendation. The mandatory
requirements are designated by the word shall and recommendations by the word should. Where both a mandatory
requirement and a recommendation are specified for the same criterion, the recommendation represents a goal
currently identifiable as having distinct compatibility or performance advantages.
ASIS International (ASIS) is the preeminent organization for security professionals, with more than 37,000 members
worldwide. Founded in 1955, ASIS is dedicated to increasing the effectiveness and productivity of security
professionals by developing educational programs and materials that address broad security interests. ASIS also
advocates the role and value of the security management profession to business, the media, government entities, and
the public. By providing members and the security community with access to a full range of programs and services,
ASIS leads the way for advanced and improved security performance.

The work of preparing ASIS Standards is carried out through the ASIS International Standards and Guidelines
Commission committees. Each member interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established
has the right to be represented on that committee.

The Guidelines Program of ASIS International has received a Designation award under the Support Anti-terrorism
by Fostering Effective Technology Act of 2002 (the SAFETY Act) from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Specifically, the SAFETY Act designation limits ASIS' liability for acts arising out of the use of the guidelines in
connection with an act of terrorism and precludes claims of third party damages against organizations using the
guidelines as a means to prevent or limit the scope of terrorist acts.

The ASIS International Organizational Resilience: Security, Preparedness and Continuity Management Systems Standard
incorporates the guidance provided in the ASIS International Business Continuity Guideline: A Practical Approach for
Emergency Preparedness, Crisis Management, and Disaster Recovery, 2005. For additional information, the Business
Continuity Guideline should be consulted. This best practices standard provides generic auditable criteria and
informative guidance on prevention, preparedness (readiness), mitigation, response, continuity, and recovery from
disruptive incidents with a potential to escalate into an emergency, crisis, or disaster.

Suggestions for improvement of this document are welcome. They should be sent to ASIS International, 1625 Prince
Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2818, USA.

Commission Members
Jason L. Brown, Thales Australia
Steven K. Bucklin, Glenbrook Security Services, Inc.
John C. Cholewa III, CPP, Embarq Corporation
Cynthia P. Conlon, CPP, Conlon Consulting Corporation
Michael A. Crane, CPP, IPC International Corporation
Eugene F. Ferraro, CPP, PCI, CFE, Business Controls Inc.
F. Mark Geraci, CPP, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Chair
Robert W. Jones, Kraft Foods, Inc.
Michael E. Knoke, CPP, Express Scripts, Inc., Vice Chair
John F. Mallon, CPP
Marc H. Siegel, Ph.D, ASIS Security Management System Consultant
Roger D. Warwick, CPP, Pyramid International

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

At the time it approved this document, SPC Standards Committee, which is responsible for the development of this
Standard, had the following members:

Committee Members
Committee Chairman: Marc H. Siegel, Ph.D., ASIS Security Management System Consultant
Committee Secretariat: Sue Carioti, ASIS International

Paul H. Aube, CCP, Federation C.J.A. James J. Leflar Jr., CPP, CBCP, Johns Hopkins University
Don Aviv, PSP, CPP, PCI, Interfor Inc. Edward M. Levy, CIT Group Inc.
William D. Badertscher, CPP, BMP, Georgetown University Adam W. Loomis, Bechtel National Inc.
Pradeep Bajaj, OSSIM Kim M. Loy-Curto, PSP, G4S Technology
Jay C. Beighley, CPP, Nationwide Insurance James E. Lukaszewski, The Lukaszewski Group Inc.
Dennis R. Blass, CPP, PSP, Sec Engineers University of Alabama Raymond R. McGill, CPP, Care Security Systems
Thomas Bozek, Bozek Consulting LLC Benjamin P. McGregor, Visual Defence
Jerry Brashear, Ph.D., ASME James E. McNeil, CPP, Mayo Clinic
Jerry J. Brennan, Security Management Resources Mohamed F. Meddeb, Linuhonnun Consulting Eng.
Richard C. Bryant, CBCP, CSE, Verizon Communications David A. Moore, PE, CSP, AcuTech Consulting Group
Frederick A. Budde, Federal Air Marshal Service Dante I. Moriconi, CPP, PSP, Administaff
Doyle J. Burke, CPP, Delphi Corporation/Securitas Eric H. Morse, Morse, Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
Sharon Caudle, Ph.D., Texas A&M University Richard E. Moulton, CPP, PSP, AlliedBarton
Jorge L. Checo, Gap Inc. Doug Nelson, EMS Solutions
Nancy A. Cohen, CPA, CITP, CIPP, AICPA Joseph C. Nelson, CPP, J Nelson, Consultant
Leah A. Core, MBCP, Godaddy.com Alan M. Nutes, CPP, Consultant
Hugues Costes, ArcelorMittal FCE Augustine O. Okereke, CPP, St. Alphonsus Catholic Church
Robert J. Coullahan, CPP, CEM, CBCP, Readiness Resource John A. Petruzzi, Jr., CPP, CISM, Simon Property Group
Group Inc. Daniel W. Phillips, PSP, Naval Undersea Warfare Center
Maria G. Dominguez, CPP, Bank of America Wade R. Pinnell, CPP, Huffmaster Crisis Response, LLC
Warren C. Edwards, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Joseph L. Rector, CPP, PSP, PCI, USAF/316th Security Forces
Eduard J. Emde, CPP, CISSP, Interseco Squadron
Linda J. Fite, CPP, University MN Medical Center Fairview Scott Richter, ANAB
Steven Foster, CPP, PCI, Business Controls Inc. Robert W. Rogalski, RAND Corporation
David H. Gilmore, CPP, Colonial Safeguards Inc. Bernard J. Scaglione, CPP, New York Presbyterian Hospital
Jeffrey P. Grossmann, Esq., St Johns University Michael Severin, Securitas Security Services
Steve Hather, Shadexi Consulting Rose M. Shyman, Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP
Robert M. Hayworth, CPP, Titan America LLC Austin L. Smith, Department of Homeland Security
Ricky S. Henson, CPP, Headquarters, Federal Protective Service Tony Webster Smith, Sustainability Pty Ltd.
John A. Hill, Ph.D, University of Denver David L. Stackleather, Circuit City Stores Inc.
Michael Johnson, CISSP, CISM, HISP, Security Assurance Eugene C. Sticco, Jr., Shell International B V
Advisors, LLC Mark L. Theisen, CPP, Thrivent Financial
Linda J. Kelly, Vector Security, Inc. Penny Turnbull, Ph.D. CBCP, Marriott International Inc.
Donald E. Knox, CPP, Caterpillar Inc. Stephen Twomey, Diamond Resorts International
Scott Kohsel, ROK Systems Inc. Robert M. Weronik, CPP, CHPA, General Electric Company
Konstantinos Kyrifidis, CPP, PSP, Security Advisory Michele Yoder, Analex Corporation
Robert F. Lang, CPP, Kennesaw State University

Working Group Members


Working Group Chairman: Marc H. Siegel, Ph.D., ASIS Security Management System
Consultant

William D. Badertscher, CPP, BMP, Georgetown University James J. Leflar Jr., CPP, CBCP, Johns Hopkins University
Dennis R. Blass, CPP, PSP, Sec Engineers University of Alabama Doug Nelson, EMS Solutions
Sharon Caudle, Ph.D., Texas A&M University Alan M. Nutes, CPP, Consultant

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................................V  
TABLE OF FIGURES...................................................................................................................................................................VI 
TABLE OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................................................VI 
0 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................................VII  
0.1 GENERAL ...................................................................................................................................................................................vII 
0.2  PROCESS APPROACH ....................................................................................................................................................................VII  
1  SCOPE.................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 
2  NORMATIVE REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 2 
GENERAL REFERENCE ......................................................................................................................................................................... 2 
PARALLEL OR INTEGRATED APPLICATION OF A NUMBER OF SYSTEMS ............................................................................................................. 2 
3   TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 3 
4   ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE (OR) MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .................................................................... 4 
4.1  GENERAL REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................................................................................................. 4 
4.1.1  Scope of OR Management System ................................................................................................................................ 5 
4.2  ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE (OR) MANAGEMENT POLICY .................................................................................................................. 5 
4.2.1 Policy statement............................................................................................................................................................. 6 
4.2.2 Management Commitment............................................................................................................................................ 6 
4.3  PLANNING ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 
4.3.1 Risk Assessment and Impact Analysis............................................................................................................................. 7 
4.3.2 Legal and Other Requirements....................................................................................................................................... 7 
4.3.3 Objectives, Targets, and Program(s) .............................................................................................................................. 8 
4.4  IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATION................................................................................................................................................. 9 
4.4.1 Resources, Roles, Responsibility, and Authority ............................................................................................................. 9 
4.4.2 Competence, Training, and Awareness ........................................................................................................................ 10 
4.4.3 Communication and Warning ...................................................................................................................................... 10 
4.4.4 Documentation............................................................................................................................................................. 11 
4.4.5 Control of Documents................................................................................................................................................... 11 
4.4.6 Operational Control...................................................................................................................................................... 12 
4.4.7 Incident Prevention, Preparedness, and Response ....................................................................................................... 12 
4.5 CHECKING (EVALUATION) ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 
4.5.1 Monitoring and Measurement ..................................................................................................................................... 14 
4.5.2 Evaluation of Compliance and System Performance .................................................................................................... 14 
4.5.2.1  Evaluation of Compliance......................................................................................................................................... 14 
4.5.2.2  Exercises and Testing................................................................................................................................................ 14 
4.5.3 Nonconformity, Corrective Action, and Preventive Action ........................................................................................... 15 
4.5.4 Control of Records ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 
4.5.5 Internal Audits.............................................................................................................................................................. 15 
4.6  MANAGEMENT REVIEW .............................................................................................................................................................. 16 
4.6.1 General......................................................................................................................................................................... 16 
4.6.2 Review Input................................................................................................................................................................. 16 
4.6.3 Review Output.............................................................................................................................................................. 17 
4.6.4 Maintenance ................................................................................................................................................................ 17 
4.6.5 Continual Improvement................................................................................................................................................ 17 
A   GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF THE STANDARD .......................................................................................................................18 
A.0  INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................................ 18 
A.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS............................................................................................................................................................ 20 
A.2 ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE (OR) MANAGEMENT POLICY ................................................................................................................ 21 

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

A.3 PLANNING ............................................................................................................................................................................... 22 


A.3.1 Risk Assessment and Impact Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 22 
A.3.2 Legal and Other Requirements..................................................................................................................................... 24 
A.3.3 Objectives, Targets, and Program(s) ............................................................................................................................ 25 
A.4 IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATION (TACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION) ....................................................................................................... 26 
A.4.1 Resources, Roles, Responsibility, and Authority ........................................................................................................... 26 
A.4.2 Competence, Training, and Awareness ........................................................................................................................ 27 
A.4.3 Communication and Warning ...................................................................................................................................... 28 
A.4.4 Documentation ............................................................................................................................................................ 29 
A.4.5 Control of Documents .................................................................................................................................................. 30 
A.4.6 Operational Control ..................................................................................................................................................... 30 
A.4.7 Incident Prevention, Preparedness, and Response....................................................................................................... 30 
A.5 CHECKING ................................................................................................................................................................................ 36 
A.5.1  Monitoring and Measurement.................................................................................................................................... 36 
A.5.2  Evaluation of Compliance and System Performance................................................................................................... 36 
A.5.2.1  Evaluation of Compliance......................................................................................................................................... 36 
A.5.2.2  Exercises and Testing ............................................................................................................................................... 36 
A.5.3 Nonconformity, Corrective Action, and Preventive Action ........................................................................................... 37 
A.5.4 Control of Records........................................................................................................................................................ 38 
A.5.5 Internal Audit ............................................................................................................................................................... 38 
A.6 MANAGEMENT REVIEW .............................................................................................................................................................. 39 
B  COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS .....................................................................................................41 
C  TERMINOLOGY CONVENTIONS ...........................................................................................................................................44 
D  GLOSSARY ..........................................................................................................................................................................45 
E  QUALIFICATIONS.................................................................................................................................................................51 
F  BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................................................................53 
F.1   ASIS PUBLICATIONS .................................................................................................................................................................. 53 
F.2   ISO STANDARDS PUBLICATIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 53 

TABLE OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1: PLAN‐DO‐CHECK‐ACT MODEL ................................................................................................................................................. VIII 
FIGURE 2: ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE (OR) MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FLOW DIAGRAM........................................................................................ 4 

TABLE OF TABLES
TABLE 1: CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004,  ISO 27001:2005, AND THIS STANDARD OF BEST PRACTICES ................. 42 
TABLE 2: VERBAL FORMS FOR THE EXPRESSION OF PROVISIONS........................................................................................................................ 44 

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

0 INTRODUCTION
0.1 General
This management system Standard (referred to as the “Standard”) has applicability in the
private, not-for-profit, non-governmental, and public sector environments. It is a management
framework for action planning and decision making needed to anticipate, prevent if possible,
and prepare for and respond to a disruptive incident (emergency, crisis, or disaster). It
enhances an organization’s capacity to manage and survive the event, and take all appropriate
actions to help ensure the organization’s continued viability. Regardless of the organization, its
leadership has a duty to stakeholders to plan for its survival. The body of this document
provides generic auditable criteria to establish, check, maintain, and improve a management
system to enhance prevention, preparedness (readiness), mitigation, response, continuity, and
recovery from disruptive incidents.
This Standard is designed so that it can be integrated with quality, safety, environmental,
information security, risk, and other management systems within an organization. A suitably
designed management system can thus satisfy the requirements of all these standards (see
Annex B). Organizations that have adopted a process approach to management systems (e.g.,
according to ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004, and/or ISO/IEC 27001:2005) may be able to use their
existing management system as a foundation for the organizational resilience (OR) management
system as prescribed in this Standard.

0.2 Process Approach


The management systems approach encourages organizations to analyze organizational and
stakeholder requirements and define processes that contribute to success. A management
system can provide the framework for continual improvement to increase the probability of
enhancing security, preparedness, response, continuity, and resilience. It provides confidence to
the organization and its customers that the organization is able to provide a safe and secure
environment which fulfills organizational and stakeholder requirements.
This Standard adopts a process approach for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring,
reviewing, maintaining, and improving an organization's organizational resilience (OR)
management system. An organization needs to identify and manage many activities in order to
function effectively. Any activity using resources and managed in order to enable the
transformation of inputs into outputs can be considered to be a process. Often the output from
one process directly forms the input to the next process.
The application of a system of processes within an organization, together with the identification
and interactions of these processes and their management, can be referred to as a “process
approach”.
The process approach for OR management presented in this Standard encourages its users to
emphasize the importance of:

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

a) Understanding an organization’s risk, security, preparedness, response, continuity, and


recovery requirements;
b) Establishing a policy and objectives to manage risks;
c) Implementing and operating controls to manage an organization’s risks within the
context of the organization’s mission;
d) Monitoring and reviewing the performance and effectiveness of the OR management
system; and
e) Continual improvement based on objective measurement.

This Standard adopts the "Plan-Do-Check-Act" (PDCA) model, which is applied to structure the
OR management system processes. The PDCA model is sometimes referred to as the APCI
(Assess-Protect-Confirm-Improve) Model. Figure 1 illustrates how an OR management system
takes as input the OR management requirements and expectations of the interested parties and
through the necessary actions and processes produces risk management outcomes that meet
those requirements and expectations. Figure 1 also illustrates the links in the processes
presented in clause 4.

Plan
Stakeholders Define & Analyze a Stakeholders
and Interested Problem and Identify and
Parties the Root Cause Interested
Parties

Do
Act
Devise a Solution
Standardize Solution
Develop Detailed Action
Review and Define
Next Issues Plan & Implement It
Systematically

Check
Organizational
Resilience Confirm Outcomes
Managed risk
Management Against Plan
Systems Identify Deviations
Requirements and and Issues
Expectations

Figure 1: Plan-Do-Check-Act Model

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Establish management system policy, objectives, processes, and procedures relevant to


Plan
managing risk and improving security, incident preparedness, response, continuity, and
(establish the recovery and to deliver results in accordance with an organization’s overall policies and
management system) objectives.

Do
Implement and operate the management system policy, controls, processes, and
(implement and
operate the procedures.
management system)

Check
Assess and measure process performance against management system policy,
(monitor and review the objectives, and practical experience and report the results to management for review.
management system)

Act
Take corrective and preventive actions, based on the results of the internal management
(maintain and improve system audit and management review, to achieve continual improvement of the
the management management system.
system)

Compliance with this Standard can be verified by an auditing process that is compatible and
consistent with the methodology of ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004, and/or ISO/IEC 27001:2005,
and the PDCA Model.

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AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD ASIS SPC.1-2009

an American National Standard for Security –

Organizational Resilience: Security, Preparedness,


and Continuity Management Systems –
Requirements with Guidance for Use

1. SCOPE
This Standard specifies requirements for an organizational resilience (OR) management system to
enable an organization to develop and implement policies, objectives, and programs taking into
account legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, information
about significant hazards and threats that may have an impact on it (and its stakeholders’), and
protection of critical assets (physical, intangible, environmental, and human). This Standard applies to
risks and/or their impacts that the organization identifies as those it can control, influence, or reduce. It
does not itself state specific performance criteria.
This Standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to:
a) Establish, implement, maintain, and improve an OR management system;
b) Assure itself of its conformity with its stated OR management policy;
c) Demonstrate conformity with this Standard by:
i. Making a self-determination and self-declaration; or
ii. Seeking confirmation of its conformance by parties having an interest in the
organization (such as customers); or
iii. Seeking confirmation of its self-declaration by a party external to the organization; or
iv. Seeking certification/registration of its OR management system by an external
organization.

All the requirements in this Standard are intended to be incorporated into any type of organization’s OR
management system. It provides all the elements required to integrate management, technology,
facilities, processes, and people into the resilience culture, risk management, and OR management
system of an organization. The extent of the application will depend on factors such as the risk
tolerance and policy of the organization; the nature of its activities, products, and services; and the
location where, and the conditions in which, it functions.
This Standard provides generic requirements as a framework, applicable to all types of organizations
(or parts thereof) regardless of size and nature of operation. It provides guidance for organizations to
develop their own specific performance criteria, enabling the organization to tailor and implement an
OR management system appropriate to its needs and those of its stakeholders.

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The Standard emphasizes resilience, the adaptive capacity of an organization in a complex and
changing environment, as well as protection of critical assets. Applying this Standard positions an
organization to more readily prepare for and respond to all manner of intentional, unintentional,
and/or naturally-caused disruptive events – which, if unmanaged, could escalate into an emergency,
crisis, or disaster. It covers all phases of incident management before, during, and after a disruptive
event.
This Standard enables an organization to:
a) Develop a prevention, preparedness, and response/continuity/recovery policy;
b) Establish objectives, procedures, and processes to achieve the policy commitments;
c) Assure competency, awareness, and training;
d) Set metrics to measure performance and demonstrate success;
e) Take action as needed to improve performance;
f) Demonstrate conformity of the system to the requirements of this Standard; and
g) Establish and apply a process for continual improvement.

Annex A provides informative guidance on system planning, implementation, testing, maintenance,


and improvement.

2. NORMATIVE REFERENCES
The following standards contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions
of this American National Standard. At the time of publication, the editions indicated were valid. All
standards are subject to revision, and parties to agreements based on this American National Standard
are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions of the standards
indicated below.
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.

NOTE: All documents below are available from the International Organization for Standardization.
< http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/prods-services/ISOstore/store.html >

2.1 General Reference


ISO Guide 73:2002, Risk management – Vocabulary – Guidelines for use in standards.

2.2 Parallel or Integrated Application of a Number of Systems


ISO 9001:2000, Quality management systems — Requirements.
ISO 14001:2004, Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use.

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ISO/IEC 27001:2005, Information technology — Security techniques — Information security management


systems — Requirements.
ISO 28000:2007, Specification for security management systems for the supply chain.

3. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS


An extensive Glossary of terms appears in Annex D.

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4. ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE (OR) MANAGEMENT SYSTEM


REQUIREMENTS

Figure 2: Organizational Resilience (OR) Management System Flow Diagram

4.1 General Requirements


The organization shall establish, document, implement, maintain, and continually improve an
organization resilience (security, preparedness, and continuity) management system in accordance
with the requirements of this Standard, and determine how it will fulfill these requirements.

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4.1.1 Scope of OR Management System


The organization shall define and document the scope of its OR management system.
In defining the scope, the organization shall:
a) Define the boundaries of the organization to be included in the scope of its OR program, being
the whole organization or one or more of its constituent parts.
b) Establish the requirements for OR management, considering the organization’s mission, goals,
internal and external obligations (including those related to stakeholders), and legal
responsibilities.
c) Consider critical operational objectives, assets, functions, services, and products.
d) Determine risk scenarios, based both on potential internal and external events, that could
adversely affect the critical operations and functions of the organization within the context of
their potential impact.
e) Define scope of the OR management system in terms of and appropriate to the size, nature, and
complexity of the organization from a perspective of continual improvement.

The organization shall define the scope consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the
organization and its relationships with stakeholders, including interactions with key suppliers,
outsourcing partners, and other stakeholders (for example, the organization’s supply chain partners
and suppliers, customers, stockholders, the community in which it operates, etc.).
A Statement of Applicability shall define the strategic weighting of security management, preparedness,
emergency management, disaster management, crisis management, and business continuity
management in developing the management system, based on the risk assessment and impact analysis
(see 4.3.1).

4.2 Organizational Resilience (OR) Management Policy


Top management shall define, document, and provide resources for the organization’s OR
management policy reflecting a commitment to the protection of human, environmental, and physical
assets; anticipating and preparing for potential adverse events; and business and operational
continuity.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

4.2.1 Policy Statement


The policy statement of an organization shall ensure that within the defined scope of the OR
management system it:
a) Is appropriate to the nature and scale of potential threats, hazards, risks, and impacts
(consequences) to the organization’s activities, functions, products, and services (including
stakeholders and the environment).
b) Includes a commitment to employee and community life safety as the first priority.
c) Includes a commitment to continual improvement.
d) Includes a commitment to enhanced organizational sustainability and resilience.
e) Includes a commitment to risk prevention, reduction, and mitigation.
f) Includes a commitment to comply with applicable legal requirements and with other
requirements to which the organization subscribes.
g) Provides a framework for setting and reviewing OR management objectives and targets.
h) Is documented, implemented, and maintained.
i) Makes reference to limitations and exclusions.
j) Determines and documents the risk tolerance in relation to the scope of the management
system.
k) Is communicated to all appropriate persons working for or on behalf of the organization.
l) Is available to relevant stakeholders.
NOTE: An organization may choose to make public a non-confidential version of its policy not including
sensitive security-related information.
m) Includes a designated policy ownership and/or responsible point of contact.
n) Is reviewed at planned intervals and when significant changes occur.
o) Is signed by top management and a documented review of the policy relevancy is conducted
annually.

4.2.2 Management Commitment


Management shall provide evidence of its commitment to the establishment, implementation,
operation, monitoring, review, maintenance, and improvement of the OR management system by:
a) Establishing an OR management system policy;
b) Ensuring that OR management system objectives and plans are established;
c) Establishing roles, responsibilities, and competencies for OR management;
d) Appointing one or more persons to be responsible for the OR management system with the
appropriate authority and competencies to be accountable for the implementation and
maintenance of the management system;
e) Communicating to the organization the importance of meeting OR management objectives and
conforming to OR management system policy, its responsibilities under the law, and the need
for continual improvement;
f) Providing sufficient resources to establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain, and
improve the OR management system;
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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

g) Deciding the criteria for accepting risks and the acceptable levels of risk;
h) Ensuring that internal OR management system audits are conducted;
i) Conducting management reviews of the OR management system; and
j) Demonstrates its commitment to continual improvement.

4.3 Planning
4.3.1 Risk Assessment and Impact Analysis
The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain a formal and documented evaluation
process:
a) To systematically conduct asset identification and valuation to identify the organization’s
critical activities, functions, services, products, partnerships, supply chains, stakeholder
relationships, and the potential impact related to a disruptive incident based on risk scenarios;
b) To identify intentional, unintentional, and naturally-caused hazards and threats that have a
potential for direct or indirect impact on the organization’s operations, functions, and human,
intangible, and physical assets; the environment; and its stakeholders;
c) To systematically analyze risk, vulnerability, criticality, and impacts (consequences);
d) To systematically analyze and prioritize risk controls and treatments and their related costs; and
e) To determine those risks that have a significant impact on activities, functions, services,
products, stakeholder relationships, and the environment (i.e., significant risks and impacts).

The organization shall:


a) Document and keep this information up to date and confidential, as is appropriate;
b) Re-evaluate risk and impacts within the context of changes within the organization or made to
the organization’s operating environment, procedures, functions, services, partnerships, and
supply chains;
c) Establish recovery time objectives and priorities;
d) Evaluate the direct and indirect benefits and costs of options to reduce risk and enhance
sustainability and resilience; and,
e) Ensure that the significant risks and impacts are taken into account in establishing,
implementing, and operating its OR management system.

4.3.2 Legal and Other Requirements


The organization shall establish and maintain (a) procedure(s):
a) To identify legal, regulatory, and other requirements to which the organization subscribes
related to the organization’s hazards, threats, and risks that are related to its facilities, activities,
functions, products, services, supply chain, the environment, and stakeholders.
b) To determine how these requirements apply to its hazards, threats, risks and their potential
impacts.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

The organization shall document this information and keep it up to date.


The organization shall ensure that applicable legal, regulatory, and other requirements to which the
organization subscribes are considered in developing, implementing, and maintaining its OR
management system.

4.3.3 Objectives, Targets, and Program(s)


The organization shall establish and maintain documented objectives and targets to avoid, prevent,
deter, mitigate, respond to, and recover from disruptive incidents. Documented objectives and targets
shall also establish expectations for other organizational relationships outside the boundary of the
organization (such as suppliers) that are critical to mission accomplishment and functional operations.
The objectives and targets shall be measurable qualitatively and/or quantitatively, and consistent with
the OR management policy, including the commitments to:
a) Risk prevention, reduction, and mitigation;
b) Resilience enhancement;
c) Financial, operational and business continuity requirements (including continuity of the
workforce);
d) Compliance with legal and other requirements; and
e) Continual improvement.

When establishing and reviewing its objectives and targets, an organization shall consider the legal,
regulatory, and other requirements; its significant risks and impacts; its technological options; its
financial, operational, and business requirements; and the views of stakeholders and other interested
parties.
The organization shall establish and maintain one or more strategic program(s) for achieving its
objectives and targets. The program(s) shall include:
a) Designation of responsibility and resources for achieving objectives and targets at relevant
functions and levels of the organization;
b) Consideration of its activities, functions, regulatory or legal requirements, contractual
obligations, stakeholders’ needs, mutual aid agreements, and environment; and
c) The means and time-frame by which they are to be achieved.

The organization shall establish and maintain one or more strategic program(s) for:
a) Prevention and deterrence - Avoid, eliminate, deter, or prevent the likelihood of a disruptive
incident and its consequences, including removal of human or physical assets at risk.
b) Mitigation - Minimize the impact of a disruptive incident.
c) Emergency response - The initial response to a disruptive incident involving the protection of
people and property from immediate harm. An initial reaction by management may form part
of the organization’s first response.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

d) Continuity - Processes, controls, and resources are made available to ensure that the
organization continues to meet its critical operational objectives.
e) Recovery - Processes, resources, and capabilities of the organization are re-established to meet
ongoing operational requirements within the time period specified in the objectives.

The organization should evaluate its strategic program(s) to determine if these measures have
introduced new risks.

4.4 Implementation and Operation


4.4.1 Resources, Roles, Responsibility, and Authority
Management shall ensure the availability of resources essential for the implementation and control of
the OR management system. Resources include human resources and specialized skills, equipment,
internal infrastructure, technology, information, intelligence, and financial resources.
Roles, responsibilities, and authorities shall be defined, documented, and communicated in order to
facilitate effective OR management.
The organization’s top management shall appoint (a) specific management representative(s) who,
irrespective of other responsibilities, shall have defined roles, responsibilities, and authority for:
a) Ensuring that an OR management system is established, communicated, implemented, and
maintained in accordance with the requirements of this Standard; and
b) Reporting on the performance of the OR management system to top management for review
and as the basis for improvement.

The organization shall establish:


a) An OR management team with appropriate authority to oversee incident preparedness,
response, and recovery;
b) Logistical capabilities and procedures to locate, acquire, store, distribute, maintain, test, and
account for services, personnel, resources, materials, and facilities produced or donated to
support the OR management system;
c) Resource management objectives for response times, personnel, equipment, training, facilities,
funding, insurance, liability control, expert knowledge, materials, and the time frames within
which they will be needed from organization’s resources and from any partner entities; and
d) Procedures for stakeholder assistance, communications, strategic alliances, and mutual aid.

The organization shall develop financial and administrative procedures to support the OR
management program before, during, and after an incident. Procedures shall be:
a) Established to ensure that fiscal decisions can be expedited; and
b) In accordance with established authority levels and accounting principles.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

4.4.2 Competence, Training, and Awareness


The organization shall ensure that any person(s) performing tasks who have the potential to prevent,
cause, respond to, mitigate, or be affected by significant hazards, threats, and risks are competent (on
the basis of appropriate education, training, or experience) and retain associated records.
The organization shall identify training needs associated with management of its hazards, threats, and
risks and its organizational resilience management system. It shall provide training or take other action
to meet these needs and retain associated records.
The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain (a) procedure(s) to ensure persons working
for it or on its behalf are aware of:
a) The significant hazards, threats, and risks, and related actual or potential impacts, associated
with their work and the benefits of improved personal performance;
b) The procedures for incident prevention, deterrence, mitigation, self-protection, evacuation,
response, continuity, and recovery;
c) The importance of conformity with the OR management policy and procedures and with the
requirements of the OR management system;
d) Their roles and responsibilities in achieving conformity with the requirements of the OR
management system;
e) The potential consequences of departure from specified procedures; and
f) The benefits of improved personal performance.

The organization shall build, promote, and embed an OR management culture within the organization
that:
a) Ensures the OR management culture becomes part of the organization’s core values and
organization governance; and
b) Makes stakeholders aware of the OR management policy and their role in any plans.

4.4.3 Communication and Warning


With regard to its hazards, threats, and risks and OR management system, the organization shall
establish, implement, and maintain (a) procedure(s) for:
a) Documenting, recording, and communicating changes in documentation, plans, procedures, the
management system, and results of evaluations and reviews;
b) Internal communication between the various levels and functions of the organization;
c) External communication with partner entities and other stakeholders;
d) Receiving, documenting, and responding to communication from external stakeholders;
e) Adapting and integrating a national or regional risk or threat advisory system or equivalent
into planning and operational use;
f) Alerting stakeholders potentially impacted by an actual or impending disruptive incident;
g) Assuring availability of the means of communication during a crisis situation and disruption;
h) Facilitating structured communication with emergency responders;

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

i) Assuring the interoperability of multiple responding organizations and personnel;


j) Recording of vital information about the incident, actions taken, and decisions made; and
k) Operations of a communications facility.

The organization shall decide, based on life safety as the first priority and in consultation with
stakeholders, whether to communicate externally about its significant risks and impacts and document
its decision. If the decision is to communicate, the organization shall establish and implement (a)
method(s) for this external communication, alerts, and warnings (including with the media).
The OR management communications systems shall be regularly tested.

4.4.4 Documentation
The OR management system documentation shall include:
a) The OR management policy, objectives, and targets;
b) Description of the scope of the OR management system;
c) Description of the main elements of the OR management system and their integration with
related documents;
d) Documents, including records, required by this Standard; and
e) Documents, including records, determined by the organization to be necessary to ensure the
effective planning, operation, and control of processes that relate to its significant risks.

4.4.5 Control of Documents


Documents required by the OR management system and by this Standard shall be controlled. Records
are a special type of document and shall be controlled in accordance with the requirements given in
4.5.4.
The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain (a) procedure(s) to:
a) Approve documents for adequacy prior to issue;
b) Review, update and re-approve documents as necessary;
c) Ensure that changes and the current revision status of documents are identified;
d) Ensure that relevant versions of applicable documents are available at points of use;
e) Establish document retention and archival parameters;
f) Ensure that original and archival copies of documents, data, and information remain legible and
readily identifiable;
g) Ensure that documents of external origin determined by the organization to be necessary for the
planning and operation of the OR management system are identified and their distribution
controlled;
h) Identify as obsolete all out-of-date documents that the organization is required to retain; and
i) Ensure the integrity of the documents by ensuring they are tamperproof, securely backed-up,
accessible only to authorized personnel, and protected from damage, deterioration, or loss.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

4.4.6 Operational Control


The organization shall identify and plan those operations that are associated with the identified
significant risks and consistent with its OR management policy, risk assessment, impact analysis,
objectives, and targets, in order to ensure that they are carried out under specified conditions, by:
a) Establishing, implementing, and maintaining procedures related to the identified hazards,
threats and risks to the activities, functions, products, and services of the organization and
communicating applicable procedures and requirements to suppliers (including contractors);
b) Establishing, implementing, and maintaining (a) documented procedure(s) to control situations
where their absence could lead to deviation from the OR management policy, objectives, and
targets; and
c) Stipulating the operating criteria in the documented procedures.

The operational control procedures shall address reliability and resiliency, the safety and health of
people, and the protection of property and the environment impacted by a disruptive incident.

4.4.7 Incident Prevention, Preparedness, and Response


The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain (a) procedure(s) to identify potential
disruptive incidents that can have (an) impact(s) on the organization, its activities, functions, services,
stakeholders, and the environment. The procedure(s) shall document how the organization will
prevent, prepare for, and respond to them. The organization shall prepare for and respond to actual
disruptive incidents to prevent or mitigate associated adverse consequences.
When establishing, implementing, and maintaining (a) procedure(s) to prepare for and respond to a
disruptive incident expeditiously, the organization should consider each of the following actions:
a) Preserve life safety;
b) Protect assets;
c) Prevent further escalation of the disruptive incident;
d) Reduce the length of the disruption to operations;
e) Restore critical operational continuity;
f) Recover normal operations (including evaluating improvements); and
g) Protect image and reputation (including media coverage and stakeholder relationships).

It is the responsibility of the organization to develop (an) incident prevention, preparedness and
response procedure(s) that suits its particular needs. In developing its procedure(s), the organization
should address its needs with regard to:
a) The nature of onsite hazards (e.g., flammable and toxic materials, storage tanks and compressed
gases) and measures to be taken in the event of a disruptive incident or accidental releases;
b) The nature of local, nearby, or other external hazards with a potential impact on the
organization;
c) The most likely type and scale of a disruptive incident;

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

d) The most appropriate method(s) for mitigation and emergency response to a disruptive incident
to avoid escalation to a crisis or disaster;
e) Procedures to prevent environmental damage,
f) Command and control procedures for and structure of pre-defined chain of command, (an)
emergency operations center(s), and/or (an) alternate worksite(s);
g) Procedures and authority to declare an emergency situation, initiate emergency procedures,
activate plans and actions, assess damage, and make financial decisions;
h) Internal and external communication plans including notification of appropriate authorities and
stakeholders;
i) Procedures to acquire and/or provide appropriate medical care;
j) The action(s) required to minimize human casualties, and physical and environmental damage;
k) The action(s) required to secure vital information, information systems, facilities, and people;
l) Mitigation and response action(s) to be taken for different types of disruptive incident(s) or
emergency situation(s);
m) The need for (a) process(es) for post-event evaluation to establish and implement corrective and
preventive actions;
n) Periodic testing of incident and emergency management and response procedure(s) and
processes;
o) Training of incident and emergency response personnel;
p) A list of key personnel and aid agencies, including contact details (e.g., fire department,
emergency medical services, law enforcement, hazardous material clean-up services);
q) Evacuation routes and assembly points including lists of personnel and contact details;
r) The potential for (a) disruptive incident or emergency situation(s) to affect or be affected by
critical infrastructure (e.g., electricity, water, communications, transportation);
s) The possibility of mutual assistance to and from neighboring organizations; and
t) Procedure(s) and action(s) required to recover each critical activity within the organization’s
recovery time objective and the resources that it requires for recovery.

The organization shall periodically review and, where necessary, revise its incident prevention,
preparedness, and response procedures – in particular, after the occurrence of accidents or incidents
that can escalate into an emergency, crisis, or disaster.
The organization shall ensure that any person(s) performing incident prevention, preparedness, and
response measures on its behalf are competent on the basis of appropriate education, training, or
experience, and retain associated records.
The organization shall document this information and updated it at a regular interval or as changes
occur.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

4.5 Checking (Evaluation)


The organization shall evaluate OR management plans, procedures, and capabilities through periodic
assessments, testing, post-incident reports, lessons learned, performance evaluations, and exercises.
Significant changes in these factors should be reflected immediately in the procedures.
The organization shall keep records of the results of the periodic evaluations.

4.5.1 Monitoring and Measurement


The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain performance metrics and (a) procedure(s) to
monitor and measure, on a regular basis, those characteristics of its operations that have material
impact on its performance (including partnership and supply chain relationships). The procedure(s)
shall include the documenting of information to monitor performance, applicable operational controls,
and conformity with the organization’s OR management objectives and targets.
The organization shall evaluate and document the performance of the systems which protect its assets,
as well as its communications and information systems.

4.5.2 Evaluation of Compliance and System Performance


4.5.2.1 Evaluation of Compliance
Consistent with its commitment to compliance, the organization shall establish, implement, and
maintain (a) procedure(s) for periodically evaluating compliance with applicable legal and regulatory
requirements.
The organization shall evaluate compliance with other requirements to which it subscribes including
industry best practices. The organization may wish to combine this evaluation with the evaluation of
legal compliance referred to above or to establish (a) separate procedure(s).
The organization shall keep records of the results of the periodic evaluations.

4.5.2.2 Exercises and Testing


The organization shall test and evaluate the appropriateness and efficacy of its OR management
system, its programs, processes, and procedures (including partnership and supply chain
relationships).
The organization shall validate its OR management system using exercises and testing that:
a) Are consistent with the scope of the OR management system and objectives of the organization;
b) Are based on realistic scenarios that are well planned with clearly defined aims and objectives;
c) Minimize the risk of disruption to operations and the potential to cause risk to operations and
assets;
d) Produce a formalized post-exercise report that contains outcomes, recommendations, and
arrangements to implement improvements in a timely fashion;
e) Are reviewed within the context of promoting continual improvement; and

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

f) Are conducted at planned intervals, and from time to time on a non-periodic basis as
determined by the management of the organization, as well as when significant changes occur
within the organization and the environment it operates in.

4.5.3 Nonconformity, Corrective Action, and Preventive Action


The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain (a) procedure(s) for dealing with actual and
potential nonconformity(ies) and for taking corrective action and preventive action. The procedure(s)
shall define requirements for:
a) Identifying and correcting nonconformity(ies) and taking action(s) to mitigate their impacts;
b) Investigating nonconformity(ies), determining their cause(s), and taking actions in order to
avoid their recurrence;
c) Evaluating the need for action(s) to prevent nonconformity(ies) and implementing appropriate
actions designed to avoid their occurrence;
d) Recording the results of corrective action(s) and preventive action(s) taken; and
e) Reviewing the effectiveness of corrective action(s) and preventive action(s) taken.

Actions taken shall be appropriate to the impact of the potential problems, and conducted in an
expedited fashion.
The organization shall identify changed risks, and identify preventive action requirements focusing
attention on significantly changed risks.
The priority of preventive actions shall be determined based on the results of the risk assessment and
impact analysis.
The organization shall make any necessary changes to the OR management system documentation.

4.5.4 Control of Records


The organization shall establish and maintain records to demonstrate conformity to the requirements of
its OR management system and of this Standard and the results achieved.
The organization shall establish, implement, and maintain (a) procedure(s) to protect the integrity of
records including access to, identification, storage, protection, retrieval, retention, and disposal of
records.
Records shall be and remain legible, identifiable, and traceable.

4.5.5 Internal Audits


The organization shall conduct internal OR management system audits at planned intervals, and from
time to time on a non-periodic basis (as determined by the management of the organization) to
determine whether the control objectives, controls, processes, and procedures of its OR management
system:
a) Conform to the requirements of this Standard and relevant legislation or regulations;
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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

b) Conform to the organization’s risk management requirements;


c) Are effectively implemented and maintained; and
d) Perform as expected.

An audit program shall be planned, taking into consideration the status and importance of the
processes and areas to be audited, as well as the results of previous audits. The audit criteria, scope,
frequency, and methods shall be defined. The selection of auditors and conduct of audits shall ensure
objectivity and impartiality of the audit process. Auditors shall not audit their own work.
The responsibilities and requirements for planning and conducting audits, and for reporting results
and maintaining records (see 4.5.4), shall be defined in a documented procedure.
The management responsible for the area being audited shall ensure that actions are taken without
undue delay to eliminate detected nonconformities and their causes. Follow-up activities shall include
the verification of the actions taken and the reporting of verification results.

4.6 Management Review


4.6.1 General
Management shall review the organization’s OR management system at planned intervals to ensure its
continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness. This review shall include assessing opportunities
for improvement and the need for changes to the OR management system, including the OR
management system policy and objectives. The results of the reviews shall be clearly documented and
records shall be maintained (see 4.5.4).

4.6.2 Review Input


The input to a management review shall include:
a) Results of OR management system audits and reviews;
b) Feedback from interested parties;
c) Techniques, products, or procedures that could be used in the organization to improve the OR
management system performance and effectiveness;
d) Status of preventive and corrective actions;
e) Results of exercises and testing;
f) Vulnerabilities or threats not adequately addressed in the previous risk assessment;
g) Results from effectiveness measurements;
h) Follow-up actions from previous management reviews;
i) Any changes that could affect the OR management system;
j) Adequacy of policy and objectives; and
k) Recommendations for improvement.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

4.6.3 Review Output


The output from the management review shall include any decisions and actions related to the
following:
a. Improvement of the effectiveness of the OR management system;
b. Update of the risk assessment, impact analysis, and incident preparedness and response plans;
c. Modification of procedures and controls that effect risks, as necessary, to respond to internal or
external events that may impact on the OR management system, including changes to:
i. Business and operational requirements;
ii. Risk reduction and security requirements;
iii. Operational conditions processes effecting the existing operational requirements;
iv. Regulatory or legal requirements;
v. Contractual obligations; and
vi. Levels of risk and/or criteria for accepting risks.
d. Resource needs; and
e. Improvement to how the effectiveness of controls is being measured.

4.6.4 Maintenance
Top management shall establish a defined and documented OR management system maintenance
program to ensure that any internal or external changes that impact the organization are reviewed in
relation to the OR management system. It shall identify any new critical activities that need to be
included in the OR management system maintenance program.

4.6.5 Continual Improvement


The organization shall continually improve the effectiveness of the OR management system through
the use of the OR management policy, objectives, audit results, analysis of monitored events, corrective
and preventive actions, and management review.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

Annex A
(informative)

A GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF THE STANDARD


NOTE: The additional text given in this annex is strictly informative and is provided to assist in understanding the
requirements contained in Section 4 of this Standard. While this information addresses and is consistent with the
requirements of Section 4, it is not intended to add to, subtract from, or in any way modify those requirements.

A.0 Introduction
Natural disasters, environmental accidents, technology mishaps, and man-made crises have historically
demonstrated that disruptive incidents can happen, impacting the public and private sectors alike. The
challenge goes beyond most emergency response plans or disaster management activities previously
deployed. Organizations now must engage in a comprehensive and systematic process of prevention,
preparedness, readiness, mitigation, response, continuity, and recovery. It is no longer enough to draft
a response plan that anticipates disasters or emergency scenarios. Today’s threats require the creation
of an on-going, dynamic, and interactive process that serves to assure the continuation of an
organization’s core activities before, during, and – most importantly – after a major crisis event.
This Standard provides organizations of all sizes and types with the elements needed to achieve and
demonstrate proactive risk reduction and organizational resilience performance related to their
physical facilities, services, activities, products, supply chains, and operational (business) continuity.
They do so within the context of:
a) Increasing security risks and threats;
b) More stringent legislation and regulation;
c) More competitive business realities;
d) Increasing interdependencies in society (on an organizational, functional, or jurisdictional
level);
e) Heightened awareness of the need for adequate emergency response and remediation planning;
f) Concerns of interested and affected parties; and
g) The need to assure operational continuity and resilience.

A disruptive incident not properly managed can rapidly escalate into an emergency, crisis, or even a
disaster. Preparing for an incident before it occurs can minimize its impact. An unmanaged disruptive
incident can taint an organization’s image, reputation, or brand in addition to resulting in significant
physical or environmental damage, injury, or loss of life. This Standard provides a framework to aid
organizations in successfully managing a disruptive incident by developing a strategy and action plan
to safeguard its interests and those of its stakeholders.
Proactive planning and preparation for potential incidents and disruptions will diminish both the
impact and length of the disruption. The holistic management process can help avoid and minimize
the suspension of critical services and operations, thereby allowing return to normal services and
operations as rapidly as possible.
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This Standard provides guidance or recommendations for any organization in the private, not-for-
profit, and public sectors to identify and develop best practices to assist and foster action in:
a) Providing top management driven vision and leadership for strategies to protect assets and
assure the resilience of the organization;
b) Identifying and evaluating assets, services, and functions to determine the parts of the
operations and business that are critical to its short- and long-term success;
c) Identifying potential hazards and threats, and assessing risks and impacts;
d) Mitigating the impact of a wide variety of hazards and threats, including natural disasters,
technological and environmental accidents, and man-made disasters (terrorism and crime);
e) Understanding the roles and responsibilities needed to protect assets and further resilience;
f) Managing necessary incident/emergency preparedness and response resources;
g) Developing strategic alliances and mutual aid agreements;
h) Developing and maintaining incident/emergency preparedness and response plans, and
associated operational procedures;
i) Developing and conducting training and exercises to support and evaluate incident/emergency
preparedness, response plans, and operational procedures;
j) Developing and conducting training programs to implement preparedness, response plans, and
operations procedures;
k) Ensuring that relevant employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders are aware of the
incident/emergency preparedness and response arrangements and (where appropriate) have
confidence in their application;
l) Developing internal and external communications procedures, including response to requests
for information from the media or the public;
m) Establishing metrics for measuring and demonstrating success;
n) Documenting the key resources, infrastructure, tasks, and responsibilities required to support
critical operational functions; and
o) Establishing processes that ensure the information remains current and relevant to the changing
risk and operational environments.

It is simply good business for an organization to protect its physical, virtual, and human assets. The
success of the management system depends on the commitment of all levels and functions in the
organization, especially the organization’s top management. Decision makers must be prepared to
budget for and secure the necessary resources to make this happen. It is necessary that an appropriate
administrative structure be put in place to effectively deal with prevention, mitigation, and
management. This will ensure that all concerned understand who makes decisions, how the decisions
are implemented, and what the roles and responsibilities of participants are. Personnel used for
incident management should be assigned to perform these roles as part of their normal duties and not
be expected to perform them on a voluntary basis. Regardless of the organization – for profit, not for
profit, faith-based, non-governmental – its leadership has a duty to stakeholders to plan for its survival.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

A.1 General Requirements


The implementation of an organizational resilience (OR) management system specified by this Standard
is intended to result in improved security, preparedness, response, continuity, and recovery
performance. Therefore, this Standard is based on the premise that the organization will periodically
review and evaluate its OR management system to identify opportunities for improvement and their
implementation. The rate, extent, and timescale of this continual improvement process are determined
by the organization in the light of economic and other circumstances. Improvements in its OR
management system are intended to result in further improvements in security, preparedness,
response, continuity, and recovery performance, and the organization’s resilience. This Standard
requires an organization to:
a) Establish an appropriate OR management policy;
b) Identify the hazards and threats related to the organization’s past, existing, or planned
activities, functions, products, and services to determine the risk, consequences, and impacts of
significance;
c) Identify applicable legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization
subscribes;
d) Identify priorities and set appropriate OR management objectives and targets;
e) Establish a structure and (a) program (s) to implement the policy and achieve objectives and
meet targets;
f) Facilitate planning, control, monitoring, preventive and corrective action, and auditing and
review activities to ensure both that the policy is complied with and that the OR management
system remains appropriate; and
g) Be capable of adapting to changing circumstances.

An organization with no existing OR management system should establish its current position with
regard to its critical assets and potential risk scenarios by means of a review. The aim of this review
should be to consider all the organization’s hazards and threats and their associated risks and impacts
to critical assets as a basis for establishing the OR management system.
The review should cover four key areas:
a) Identification of risks, including those associated with normal operating conditions, abnormal
conditions including start-up and shut-down, and emergency situations and accidents.
b) Identification of applicable legal requirements and other requirements to which the
organization subscribes.
c) Examination of existing risk management practices and procedures, including those associated
with procurement and contracting activities.
d) Evaluation of previous emergency situations and accidents.

In all cases, consideration should be given to normal and abnormal operations and functions within the
organization, its relationships with relevant stakeholders, and to potential disruptive and emergency
conditions. Tools and methods for undertaking a review might include checklists, conducting

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interviews, direct inspection and measurement, or results of previous audits or other reviews,
depending on the nature of the activities.
An organization has the freedom and flexibility to define its boundaries, and may choose to implement
this Standard with respect to the entire organization or to specific operating units of the organization.
The organization should define and document the scope of its OR management system.
Scoping is intended to clarify the boundaries of the organization to which the OR management system
will apply, especially if the organization is a part of a larger organization at a given location. Once the
scope is defined, all activities, products, and services of the organization within that scope need to be
included in the OR management system. In setting the scope, the credibility of the OR management
system will depend upon the choice of organizational boundaries. Where a part of an organization is
excluded from the scope of its OR management system, the organization should be able to explain the
exclusion.
If this Standard is implemented for a specific operating unit, policies and procedures developed by
other parts of the organization can be used to meet the requirements of this Standard, provided that
they are applicable to the specific operating unit that will be subject to it.
OR management involves issues and actions before, during, and after a disruptive incident. Therefore,
this Standard encompasses prevention, avoidance, deterrence, readiness, mitigation, response,
continuity, and recovery. The risk environment, as well as business/operational realities, focuses
different strategic weights on each of these components; however, no component should be weighted
zero. The Statement of Applicability should elucidate the strategic weighting of security management,
preparedness, emergency management, disaster management, crisis management, and business
continuity management in developing the management system, based on the risk assessment and
impact analysis (see 4.3.1).

A.2 Organizational Resilience (OR) Management Policy


The OR management policy is the driver for implementing and improving an organization’s OR
management system, so that it can maintain and enhance its sustainability and resilience. This policy
should therefore reflect the commitment of top management to:
a) Comply with applicable legal requirements and other requirements;
b) Prevention, preparedness, and mitigation of disruptive incidents; and
c) Continual improvement.

The OR management policy forms the basis upon which the organization sets its objectives and targets.
The OR management policy should be sufficiently clear to be capable of being understood by internal
and external interested parties and should be periodically reviewed and revised to reflect changing
conditions and information. Its area of application (i.e., scope) should be clearly identifiable and should
reflect the unique nature, scale, and impacts of the risks of its activities, functions, products, and
services.
The OR management policy should be communicated to all persons who work for (or on behalf of) the
organization, including contractors working at an organization’s facility. Communication to

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contractors can be in alternative forms to the policy statement itself, such as rules, directives, and
procedures, and may therefore only include pertinent sections of the policy. The organization’s OR
management policy should be defined and documented by its top management within the context of
the OR management policy of any broader corporate body of which it is a part and with the
endorsement of that body.
It is essential that top management of the organization sponsors, provides the necessary resources, and
takes responsibility for creating, maintaining, testing, and implementing a comprehensive OR
management system. This will insure that management and staff at all levels within the organization
understand that the OR management system is a critical top management priority. It is equally
essential that top management engage a “top down” approach to the OR management system, so that
management at all levels of the organization understand accountability for effective and efficient plan
maintenance as part of the overall governance priorities.
An OR Management Planning Team – including senior leaders from all major organizational functions
and support groups – should be appointed to ensure wide-spread acceptance of the OR management
system.

A.3 Planning
A.3.1 Risk Assessment and Impact Analysis
Clause 4.3.1 is intended to provide a process for an organization to identify hazards, threats, risks, and
impacts to determine those that are significant and which should be addressed as a priority by the
organization’s OR management system.
Critical activities, functions, obligations, and processes should be identified and documented.
Examples include purchasing, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, distribution, accounts receivable,
accounts payable, payroll, information technology, and research and development. Once the critical
processes and functions are identified, an analysis of each can be made using the evaluation criteria.
Organizations may select categories of activities, products, and services to identify their criticality,
risks, and impacts.
An organization should conduct a comprehensive risk assessment and impact analysis within the scope
of its OR management system, taking into account the inputs and outputs (both intended and
unintended) associated with:
a) Its current and relevant past activities, products, and services;
b) Planned or new developments, or new or modified activities, functions, products, and services;
c) Relations with stakeholders;
d) Interactions with the environment and community; and
e) Critical infrastructure.

This process should consider normal and abnormal operating conditions, shut-down and start-up
conditions, as well as reasonably foreseeable disruptive and emergency situations in order to set
recovery time objectives and respond to recovery time requirements.

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There are many approaches and methodologies to risk assessment and impact analysis that will
determine the order of the analysis steps adopted. Regardless of the methodology, the organization
should have a formal and documented evaluation process threat and hazard identification; and risk,
vulnerability, criticality, consequence, and impact analysis.
The risk assessment and impact analysis should:
a) Give consideration to risks related to and criticality of the organization’s activities, functions,
products, and services and their potential for direct or indirect impact on the organization’s
operations, people, property, assets, compensation, image and reputation, profit, credit, and/or
environment.
b) Use a documented quantitative or qualitative methodology to estimate likelihood or probability
of the identified potential risks and significance of their impacts if they are realized.
c) Be based on reasonable criteria by giving due consideration to all potential risks it recognizes to
its operations.
d) Consider its dependencies on others and others dependencies on the organization, including
critical infrastructure and supply chain dependencies and obligations.
e) Consider data and telecommunications integrity and cyber security.
f) Evaluate the consequences of legal and other obligations which govern the organization’s
activities.
g) Consider risks associated with stakeholders, contractors, suppliers, and other affected parties.
h) Analyze information on risks, and select those risks which may cause significant consequences
and/or those risks whose consequence is hard to be determined in terms of significance.
i) Analyze and evaluate the level of resilience of each hazard or threat and each critical asset.
j) Evaluate risks and impacts it can control and influence. (However, in all circumstances it is the
organization that determines the degree of control and its strategies for risk acceptance,
avoidance, management, minimization, tolerance transfer, and/or treatment.)

In some locations, critical infrastructure, societal assets, and cultural heritage may be an important
element of the surroundings in which an organization operates, and therefore should be taken into
account in the understanding of its impacts on surroundings.
Since an organization might have many risks and impacts, it should establish and document criteria
and a methodology to determine those that it will consider significant. There is no single method for
determining significant risks and impacts. However, the method used should provide consistent results
and include the establishment and application of evaluation criteria, such as those related to criticality
of each organizational activity and function, legal issues, and the concerns of internal and external
stakeholders. An organization should analyze impacts of disruptions to its operations and identify
critical operations that are given high priority for restoration, in order to set up recovery time
objectives.
When assessing impacts the organizations should consider:
a) Human cost: Physical and psychological harm to employees, customers, suppliers, and other
stakeholders.

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b) Financial cost: Equipment and property replacement, downtime, overtime pay, stock
devaluation, lost sales/business, lawsuits, regulatory fines/penalties, etc.
c) Corporate image cost: Reputation, standing in the community, negative press, loss of customers,
etc.
d) Economic losses to the community in which the organization operates: Indirect impacts on the regional
economy, reduction in the regional net economy, losses to the tax base of local jurisdictions, etc.
e) Environmental impacts: Degradation to the quality of the environment or to endangered species.

Maximum acceptable outage time and recovery time objectives should be based on:
a) How long processes can be nonfunctional before impacts become unacceptable.
b) How soon processes should be restored (shortest allowable outage restored first).
c) Different recovery time objectives according to time of year (year-end, tax filing, etc.).
d) Identifying and documenting alternate procedures for strategic alliance, mutual aid, manual
workaround, notification/alert, etc.
e) Evaluation of costs of alternate procedures versus waiting for system to be restored.

When developing information relating to its significant risks and impacts, the organization should
consider the need to retain the information for historical purposes, as well as how to use it in designing
and implementing its OR management system.
The process of identification and evaluation of risks and impacts should take into account the location
of activities, cost and time of undertaking the analysis, and the availability of reliable data. Information
already developed for business planning, regulatory, or other purposes may be used in this process.
This process of identifying and evaluating risks and impacts is not intended to change or increase an
organization’s legal obligations.

A.3.2 Legal and Other Requirements


The organization needs to identify the legal requirements that are applicable to activities and functions.
These may include:
a) National and international legal requirements;
b) State/provincial/departmental legal requirements; and
c) Local governmental legal requirements.

Examples of other requirements to which the organization may subscribe include, if applicable:
a) Agreements with public authorities;
b) Agreements with customers;
c) Non-regulatory guidelines (e.g., Incident Command System/Unified Command);
d) Voluntary principles or codes of practice;
e) Voluntary labeling or product stewardship commitments;

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f) Requirements of trade associations;


g) Agreements with community groups or non-governmental organizations;
h) Public commitments of the organization or its parent organization; and/or
i) Corporate/company requirements.

The determination of how legal and other requirements apply to an organization’s risk assessment is
usually accomplished in the process of identifying these requirements. Therefore, it may not be
necessary to have a separate or additional procedure in order to make this determination.

A.3.3 Objectives, Targets, and Program(s)


The objectives and targets should be specific and measurable wherever practicable. They should cover
short- and long-term issues. Programs should define the strategic means for achieving objectives and
targets.
Objectives, targets, and program(s) should be based on the risk assessment and impact analysis.
When considering its technological options, an organization should consider the use of best available
technologies where economically viable, cost-effective, and judged appropriate.
The reference to the financial requirements of the organization is not intended to imply that
organizations are obliged to use cost-accounting methodologies; however, the organization may choose
to consider direct, indirect, and hidden costs.
The creation and use of one or more programs is important to the successful implementation of an OR
management system. Each program should describe how the organization’s objectives and targets will
be achieved, including timescales, necessary resources, and personnel responsible for implementing the
program(s). This (these) program(s) may be subdivided to address specific elements of the
organization’s operations.
The program should include, where appropriate and practical, consideration of all stages of an
organization’s activities and functions related to planning, design, construction, commissioning,
operation, retrofitting, production, marketing, waste disposal, and decommissioning. Program
development may be undertaken for both current and new activities, products, and/or services.
Prevention, preparedness, and mitigation programs should consider removal of people and property at
risk; relocation, retrofitting, and provision of protective systems or equipment; information, data,
document, and cyber security; establishment of threat or hazard warning and communication
procedures; and redundancy or duplication of essential personnel, critical systems, equipment,
information, operations, or materials, including those from partner agencies.
The organization should plan for incident response and recovery, taking into account core activities,
contractual obligations, employee and neighboring community necessities, operational continuity, and
environmental remediation. Organizations have different approaches to managing crises. Regardless
of the approach, there are three generic and interrelated management response steps that require pre-
emptive planning and implementation in case of a disruptive incident:

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a) Emergency response: The initial response to a disruptive incident usually involves the protection
of people and property from immediate harm. An initial reaction by management may form
part of the organization’s first response.
b) Continuity: Processes, controls, and resources are made available to ensure that the organization
continues to meet its critical operational objectives.
c) Recovery: Processes, resources, and capabilities of the organization are re-established to meet
ongoing operational requirements. This will often include the introduction of significant
organizational improvements even to the extent of refocusing strategic or operational
objectives).

A.4 Implementation and Operation (Tactical Implementation)


A.4.1 Resources, Roles, Responsibility, and Authority
The successful implementation of an OR management system calls for a commitment from all persons
working for the organization or on its behalf. Roles and responsibilities therefore should not be seen as
confined to the risk management function, but can also cover other areas of an organization, such as
operational management or staff functions other than risk management, security, preparedness,
continuity, and response.
This commitment should begin at the highest levels of management. Accordingly, top management
should establish the organization’s OR management policy, and ensure that the OR management
system is implemented. As part of this commitment, the top management should designate (a) specific
management representative(s) with defined responsibility and authority for implementing the OR
management system. In large or complex organizations there may be more than one designated
representative. In small or medium-sized enterprises, these responsibilities may be undertaken by one
individual.
It is necessary that an appropriate administrative structure be put in place to effectively deal with crisis
management during a disruptive incident. Clear definitions must exist for a management structure,
authority for decisions, and responsibility for implementation. An organization should have a Crisis
Management Team to lead incident/event response. The team should be comprised of such functions
as human resources, information technology, facilities, security, legal, communications/media relations,
manufacturing, warehousing, and other business critical support functions, with all under the clear
direction of senior management or its representatives.
The Crisis Management Team may be supported by as many Response Teams as appropriate taking
into account such factors as organization size and type, number of employees, location, etc. Response
Teams should develop response plans to address various aspects of potential crises – such as damage
assessment, site restoration, payroll, human resources, information technology, and administrative
support. Response plans should be consistent with and included within the overall OR management
system. Individuals should be recruited for membership on Response Teams based upon their skills,
level of commitment, and vested interest.
Management should also ensure that appropriate resources are provided to ensure that the OR
management system is established, implemented, and maintained. It is also important that the key OR
management system roles and responsibilities are well defined and communicated to all persons
working for or on behalf of the organization.
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Roles, responsibilities, and authorities should also be defined, documented and communicated for
coordination with external stakeholders. This should include interactions with contractors, partners,
organizations within the supply chain, public authorities, and financial institutions.

A.4.2 Competence, Training, and Awareness


The organization should identify the awareness, knowledge, understanding, and skills needed by any
person with the responsibility and authority to perform tasks on its behalf. This Standard states that:
a) The importance of conformity with the OR management policy and procedures and with the
requirements of the OR management system;
b) The significant hazards, threats, and risks, and related actual or potential impacts, associated
with their work and the benefits of improved personal performance;
c) Their roles and responsibilities needed to achieve conformity with the requirements of the OR
management system;
d) The procedures for incident prevention, deterrence, mitigation, self-protection, evacuation,
response, and recovery; and
e) The potential consequences of departure from specified procedures.

Awareness and education programs should be established for internal and external stakeholders
potentially impacted by a disruptive incident.
Awareness, knowledge, understanding, and competence may be obtained or improved through
training, education, or work experience.
The organization should require that contractors working on its behalf are able to demonstrate that
their employees have the requisite competence and/or appropriate training.
Management should determine the level of experience, competence, and training necessary to ensure
the capability of personnel, especially those carrying out specialized OR management functions.
All personnel should be trained to perform their individual responsibilities in case of a disruptive
incident or crisis. They should also be briefed on the key components of the OR management system,
as well as the response plans that affect them directly. Such training could include procedures for
mitigation measures, evacuation, shelter-in-place, check-in processes to account for employees,
arrangements at alternate worksites, and the handling of media inquiries by the company.
The Crisis Management and Response Teams should be educated about their responsibilities and
duties including interactions with first responders and stakeholders. Checklists of critical actions and
information to be gathered are valuable tools in the education and response processes. Teams should
be trained regular intervals (at least annually), and new members should be trained when they join.
These teams should also be trained with respect to prevention of incidents that may escalate into crises.
It is recommended that any external resources that may be involved in a response – such as Fire, Police,
Public Health, and third-party vendors – should be familiar with relevant parts of the response plans.

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A.4.3 Communication and Warning


Internal communication is important to ensure the effective implementation of the OR management
systems. Methods of internal communication may include regular work group meetings, newsletters,
bulletin boards, and intranet sites.
Organizations should identify and establish relationships with public sector agencies, organizations,
and officials responsible for intelligence, warnings, prevention, response, and recovery related to
potential disruptions identified in the risk assessment. Arrangements should be made for
communication and warnings internally and externally for normal and abnormal conditions.
Organizations should implement a procedure for receiving, documenting, and responding to relevant
communications from stakeholders and interested parties. This procedure can include a dialogue with
interested parties and consideration of their relevant concerns. In some circumstances, responses to
interested parties’ concerns may include relevant information about the risks and impacts associated
with the organization’s functions and operations. These procedures should also address necessary
communications with public authorities regarding emergency planning and other relevant issues.
The organization may wish to plan its communication taking into account the decisions made on
relevant target groups, the appropriate messages and subjects, and the choice of means. When
considering external communication about hazards, threats, risks, impacts, and control procedures,
organizations should take into consideration the views and information needs of all stakeholders. If the
organization decides to communicate externally on its hazards, threats, risks, impacts, and control
procedures, the organization should establish a procedure to do so. This procedure could change
depending on several factors, including the type of information to be communicated, the target group,
and the individual circumstances of the organization. Methods for external communication can include
annual reports, newsletters, websites, warnings, and community meetings.
Effective communication is one of the most important ingredients in crisis management. Internal and
external stakeholders should be identified in order to convey alerts, warnings, crisis, and
organizational response information. In order to provide the best communications and suitable
messages for various groups, it may be appropriate to segment the audiences. In this way, messages
tailored specifically for a group can be released.
Preplanning for communications is critical. Draft message templates, scripts, and statements can be
crafted in advance for threats identified in the risk assessment. Procedures to ensure that
communications can be distributed at short notice should also be established, particularly when using
resources such as an Intranet, Internet sites, and toll-free hotlines.
The organization should designate a single primary spokesperson (with back-ups identified) who will
manage/disseminate crisis communications to the media and others. This individual should be trained
in media relations prior to a crisis. All information should be funneled through a single source to
assure that the messages being delivered are consistent. It should be stressed that personnel should be
informed quickly regarding where to refer calls from the media and only authorized company
spokespeople may speak to the media. In some situations, an appropriately trained site spokesperson
may also be necessary.

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A.4.4 Documentation
The level of detail of the documentation should be sufficient to describe the OR management system
and how its parts work together, and provide direction on where to obtain more detailed information
on the operation of specific parts of the OR management system. This documentation may be
integrated with documentation of other systems implemented by the organization. It does not have to
be in the form of a manual.
The extent of the OR management system documentation can differ from one organization to another
due to:
a) The size and type of organization and its activities, products or services;
b) The complexity of processes and their interactions; and
c) The competence of personnel.

Examples of documents include:


a) Statements of policy, objectives, and targets;
b) Information on significant risks and impacts;
c) Procedures;
d) Process information;
e) Organizational charts;
f) Internal and external standards;
g) Site response, mitigation, emergency, and crisis plans; and
h) Records.

Any decision to document (a) procedure(s) should be based on issues such as:
a) The consequences, including those to human and physical assets and the environment, of not
doing so.
b) The need to demonstrate compliance with legal and with other requirements to which the
organization subscribes.
c) The need to ensure that the activity is undertaken consistently.
d) The advantages of doing so, which can include:
i. Easier implementation through communication and training.
ii. Easier maintenance and revision.
iii. Less risk of ambiguity and deviations.
iv. Demonstrability and visibility.
e) The requirements of this Standard.

Documents originally created for purposes other than the OR management system may be used as part
of this system, and (if so used) will need to be referenced in the system.

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A.4.5 Control of Documents


The intent of 4.4.5 is to ensure that organizations create and maintain documents in a manner sufficient
to implement the OR management system. However, the primary focus of organizations should be on
the effective implementation of the OR management system and on security, preparedness, response,
continuity, and recovery performance and not on a complex document control system.
Organizations should ensure the integrity of the documents by ensuring they are tamperproof, securely
backed-up, accessible only to authorized personnel, and protected from damage, deterioration, or loss.

A.4.6 Operational Control


An organization should evaluate those of its operations that are associated with its identified
significant risks, and ensure that they are conducted in a way that will control or reduce the adverse
impacts associated with them in order to fulfill the requirements of its OR management policy and
meet its objectives and targets. This should include all parts of its operations including maintenance
activities.
As this part of the OR management system provides direction on how to take the system requirements
into day-to-day operations, it requires the use of (a) documented procedure(s) to control situations
where the absence of documented procedures could lead to deviations from the OR management
policy, objectives, and targets.
To minimize the likelihood of a disruptive incident, these procedures should include controls for the
design, installation, operation, refurbishment, and modification of risk-related items of equipment,
instrumentation, etc., as appropriate. Where existing arrangements are revised or new arrangements
introduced that could impact on operations and activities, the organization should consider the
associated minimization of threats and risks before their implementation.

A.4.7 Incident Prevention, Preparedness, and Response


It is the responsibility of each organization to develop (an) incident prevention, preparedness, and
response procedure(s) that suits its own particular needs. In developing its procedure(s), the
organization should include consideration of:
a) A potential disruptive incident should be identified, understood, and addressed and – in doing
so – avoided or prevented. The risk assessment can be used to identify the specifics of potential
disruptive incidents, including any precursors and warning signs.
i. Risk management should be a systematic and holistic process that builds on the formal
risk assessment to identify, measure, quantify, and evaluate risks to provide the optimal
solution.
ii. Risk treatment options can include avoidance, elimination, reduction, spreading,
transfer, and acceptance strategies. Avoidance and elimination can either evade activities
that gives rise to the risk or remove the source of the risk. Reduction lowers the risk or
the severity of the loss. Spreading distributes assets and/or the potential loss of capacity.
Transfer involves sharing the risk with another party or parties. Acceptance is an
informed decision to take a particular risk.

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b) Prevention can include proactive steps to coordinate with intelligence, law enforcement, and
public agencies; establish information sharing agreements; physical protection of key assets;
access controls; awareness and readiness training programs; warning and alarm systems; and
practices to reduce the threat.
c) Organizational culture, operational plans, and management objectives should motivate
individuals to feel personally responsible for prevention, avoidance, deterrence, and detection.
d) Deterrence and detection can make a disruptive act or activity more difficult to carry out against
the organization or significantly limit, if not negate, its impact. Consideration of prevention,
detection, and deterrence strategies may be:
i. Architectural: Natural or manmade barriers; redesigned or relocated infrastructure.
ii. Operational: Removal of hazardous materials; redesigned systems and operations;
security officers’ post orders; employee awareness programs; counter surveillance and
counter intelligence as avoidance; relocation of systems, operations, infrastructure, and
personnel.
iii. Technological: Alternative materials and processes, interoperable communication and
information networks, intrusion detection, access control, recorded surveillance,
package and baggage screening, and system controls.
e) Physical security planning includes protection of perimeter grounds, building perimeter,
internal space protection, and protection of contents. Defense begins at the external perimeter.
i. Physical security planning is a function of detection, delay, and response.
ii. Physical security measures should be designed so detection is as far from the target as
possible. Delays are planned closer to the target.
iii. Security system design should link exterior or interior detection with assessment and
response.
iv. Physical security measures may include crime prevention through environmental design;
physical barriers and site hardening; physical entry and access controls; security
lighting; intrusion detection systems and alarms; closed-circuit televisions; security
personnel; and security policies and procedures.
f) Cost-effective mitigation strategies should be employed to prevent or lessen the impact of
potential crises.
i. The mitigation strategy should consider immediate, interim, and long-term actions.
ii. The various resources that would contribute to the mitigation process should be
identified. These resources – including essential personnel and their roles and
responsibilities, facilities, technology, and equipment – should be documented in the
plan and become part of “business as usual.”
iii. Systems and resources should be monitored continually as part of mitigation strategies.
Such monitoring can be likened to simple inventory management.
iv. The resources that will support the organization to mitigate the crisis should also be
monitored continually to ensure that they will be available and able to perform as
planned during the crisis. Examples of such systems and resources include, but are not
limited to: emergency equipment, fire alarms and suppression systems, local resources

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and vendors, alternate worksites, maps and floor plans, system backup, and offsite
storage.
g) The organization should establish procedures to recognize when specific dangers occur that
necessitate the need for some level of response. A strong program of detection and avoidance
policies and procedures will support this process.
i. Certain departments or functions are uniquely situated to observe warning signs of an
imminent crisis. Personnel assigned to these departments or functions should be trained
appropriately. The responsibility to report a potential crisis (including the notification
mechanism) should be communicated to all employees. The general employee
population may also be an excellent source of predictive information when there is a
documented reporting structure and where attention is paid to what the employee
reports.
h) A potential disruptive incident, once recognized, should be immediately reported to a
supervisor, a member of management, or another individual tasked with the responsibility of
crisis notification and management.
i. Specific notification criteria should be established, documented, and adhered to by all
employees (with the timing and sequence of notification calls clearly documented). The
actual activation of a response process should require very specific qualifications being
met.
ii. Qualified personnel should have ready access to the updated, confidential listings of
persons and organizations to be contacted when certain conditions or parameters of a
potential crisis are met.
iii. Notifications in a crisis situation should be timely and clear, and should use a variety of
procedures and technologies – with recognition that devices used have advantages and
limitations.
iv. In some types of crises, the notification systems are themselves impacted by the disaster,
either through capacity issues or infrastructure damage. Thus, it is important to have
redundancies built into the notification system, and several different ways to contact the
listed individuals and organizations.
i) Problem assessment (an evaluative process of decision making that will determine the nature of
the issue to be addressed) and severity assessment (the process of determining the severity of the
crisis and what any associated costs may be in the long run) should be made at the outset of a
crisis. Factors to be considered include the size of the problem, its potential for escalation, and
the possible impact of the situation.
j) The point at which a situation is declared to be an emergency or crisis should be clearly defined,
documented, and fit very specific and controlled parameters. Responsibility for declaring a
crisis should also be clearly defined and assigned. First and second alternates to the responsible
individual should be identified. The activities that declaring a emergency or crisis will trigger
include, but are not limited to:
i. Additional call notification;
ii. Evacuation, shelter, or relocation;
iii. Safety protocol;

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iv. Response site and alternate site activation;


v. Team deployment;
vi. Personnel assignments and accessibility;
vii. Emergency contract activation; and
viii. Operational changes.
k) Preparedness and response plans should be developed around a "worst case scenario," with the
understanding that the response can be scaled appropriately to match the actual crisis.
l) People are the most important aspect of any preparedness and response plan. How an
organization’s human resources are managed will impact the success or failure of incident
management.
i. A system should be devised by which all personnel can be accounted for quickly after
the onset of a crisis. This system could range from a simple telephone tree to an
elaborate external vendor’s call-in site. Current and accurate contact information should
be maintained for all personnel. Consideration should be given to engaging the
company’s travel services to assist in locating employees on business travel.
ii. Arrangements should be made for notification of any next-of-kin in case of injuries or
fatalities. If at all possible, notification should take place in person by a member of
senior management. Appropriate training should be provided.
iii. The organization should implement a Family Representative program in case of severe
injury or fatality. The Family Representative should be someone other than the person
who performed the notification. This representative should act as the primary point of
contact between the family and the organization. Comprehensive training for the
representative is a necessity.
iv. Crisis counseling should be arranged as necessary. In many cases, such counseling goes
beyond the qualifications and experience of an organization’s employee assistance
program (where available). Other reliable sources of counseling should be identified
prior to a crisis situation.
v. A crisis may have far reaching financial implications for the organization, its employees
and their families, and other stakeholders; these implications should be considered an
important part of a preparedness and response plan. Implications may include financial
support to families of victims. Additionally, there may be tax implications that should
be referenced and clarified in advance.
vi. The payroll system should remain functional throughout the crisis.
m) Logistical decisions made in advance will impact the success or failure of a good preparedness
and response plan. Among them are the following:
i. A primary Crisis Management Center should be identified in advance. This is the initial
site used by the Crisis Management Team and Response Teams for directing and
overseeing crisis management activities. The site should have an uninterruptible power
supply; essential computer, telecommunications, heating/ventilating/air conditioning
systems; and other support systems. Additionally, emergency supplies should be
identified and kept in the center.

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ii. Where a dedicated center is not possible, a designated place where the teams may direct
and oversee crisis management activities should be guaranteed. Access control
measures should be implemented, with the members of all teams given 24x7 access.
iii. A secondary Crisis Management Center should also be identified in the event that the
primary center is impacted by the crisis event.
iv. The organization should consider the establishment of virtual command centers for
distributed access to information as well as to reach dispersed or remote stakeholders.
v. The organization should have alternate worksites identified for business resumption
and recovery. In the absence of other company facilities being available and/or suitable,
access to alternate worksites can be arranged through appropriate vendors. Planning
concerning the identification and availability of alternate worksites should take place
early in the preparedness and response plan process. Alternate worksites should
provide adequate access to the resources required for business resumption identified in
the impact analysis.
vi. Offsite storage is a valuable mitigation strategy allowing rapid crisis response and
business resumption/recovery. The off-site storage location should be a sufficient
distance from the primary facility so that it is not likely to be similarly affected by the
same event. Items to be considered for off-site storage include critical and vital records
(paper and other media) critical to the operations of the business. Procedures should be
included in the plan to ensure the timely delivery of any necessary items from offsite
storage to the Crisis Management Center or the alternate worksites.
n) Once the Crisis Management Team has been activated, the damage should be assessed. The
damage assessment may be performed by the Crisis Management Team itself or a designated
Damage Assessment Team. Responsibility should be assigned for the documentation of all
incident related facts and response actions, including financial expenditures.
i. For situations involving physical damage to company property, the Crisis Management
Team or its designated Damage Assessment Team should be mobilized to the site. The
team will gain entry if permission from the public safety authorities is granted, and
make a preliminary assessment of the extent of damage and the likely length of time that
the facility will be unusable.
ii. Certain types of crises do not involve immediate physical damage to a company
worksite or facility. These would include the business, human, information technology,
and societal types of crises. In these crises, the team will likely assess the damage or
impact as the crisis unfolds.
o) If appropriate, existing funding and insurance policies should be examined, and additional
funding and insurance coverage should be identified and obtained.
i. Policy parameters should be established in advance, including pre-approval by the
insurance provider of any response related vendors. Where possible, the amount of
funds to help ensure continuity of operations should be determined in the planning
process.
ii. Any cash should be stored in an easily accessible location to assure its availability
during a crisis, and some cash and credit should be available for weekend and after-
hours requirements.

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iii. All crisis related expenses should be recorded throughout the response and recovery
periods.
iv. Insurance providers should be contacted as early as possible in the crisis period,
particularly in instances of a wide-reaching crisis, where competition for such resources
could be vigorous. All insurance policy and contact information should be readily
available to the Crisis Management Team and backed up or stored offsite as appropriate.
p) Transportation in a time of crisis can be a challenge. Provisions should be arranged ahead of
time, if possible. Areas where transportation is critical include, but are not limited to:
i. Evacuation of personnel (this may be from a demolished work-site or from a satellite
facility in another region or country);
ii. Transportation to an alternate worksite;
iii. Supplies into the site or to an alternate site;
iv. Transportation of critical data to worksite; and
v. Transportation for staff with special needs.
q) Critical vendor or service provider agreements should be established as appropriate and their
contact information maintained as part of the preparedness and response plan. Such
information could include phone numbers, contact names, account numbers, pass-codes
(appropriately protected), and other information in the event that someone unfamiliar with the
process would need to make contact.
i. In some instances, it may be appropriate to request and review the preparedness and
response plan, or a summary of such, of the critical vendors, in order to evaluate their
ability to continue to provide necessary supplies and services in the case of a far-
reaching crisis. At a minimum, the vendor or service provider roles and service level
agreements should be discussed in advance of the crisis.
r) Mutual aid agreements identify resources that may be shared with or borrowed from other
organizations during a crisis, as well as mutual support that may be shared with other
organizations. Such agreements should be legally sound and properly documented, clearly
understood by all parties involved, and representative of dependable resources as well as a
commitment to cooperation.
s) Strategic alliances identify delivery partners with which it has an interdependent relationship
with other organizations to produce and supply products and services and share risk.
t) Once the extent of damage is known, the process recovery needs should be prioritized and a
schedule for resumption determined and documented. The prioritization should take into
account the fundamental criticality of the process and other factors, including relationships to
other processes, critical schedules, and regulatory requirements, as identified in the impact
analysis. Decisions regarding prioritization of processes should be documented and recorded,
including the date, time, and justification for the decisions.
u) Once the processes to be restored have been prioritized, the resumption work can begin with
processes restored according to the prioritization schedule. The resumption of these processes
may occur at either the current worksite or an alternate worksite, depending on the
circumstances of the crisis. Documentation should be kept of when the processes were
resumed.

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v) Once the critical processes have been resumed, the resumption of the remaining processes can
be addressed. Where possible, decisions about the prioritization of these processes should be
thoroughly documented in advance, as should the timing of actual resumption.
w) The organization should seek to bring the organization “back to normal.” If it is not possible to
return to the pre-crisis “normal,” a “new normal” should be established. This “new normal”
creates the expectation that, while there may be changes and restructuring in the workplace, the
organization will phase back into productive work. Each step of the process and all decisions
should be carefully documented.
i. As a rule, it is at this point that the crisis may be officially declared “over.” It is
important to document this decision. Press conferences and mass media
communications may be undertaken to bolster employee and client confidence.

A.5 Checking
A.5.1 Monitoring and Measurement
Data collected from monitoring and measurement can be analyzed to identify patterns and obtain
information. Knowledge gained from this information can be used to implement corrective and
preventive action. Metrics should be established to measure success of the OR management system.
Key characteristics are those that the organization needs to consider to determine how it is managing
its significant risks and impacts, achieving objectives and targets, and improving security,
preparedness, response, continuity, and recovery performance.
When necessary to ensure valid results, measuring equipment should be calibrated or verified at
specified intervals, or prior to use, against measurement standards traceable to international or national
measurement standards. Where no such standards exist, the basis used for calibration should be
recorded.

A.5.2 Evaluation of Compliance and System Performance


A.5.2.1 Evaluation of Compliance
The organization should be able to demonstrate that it has evaluated compliance with the legal
requirements identified including applicable permits or licenses.
The organization should be able to demonstrate that it has evaluated compliance with the identified
other requirements to which it has subscribed.

A.5.2.2 Exercises and Testing


Testing scenarios should be designed using the events identified in the risk assessment and impact
analysis.
Testing can keep response teams and employees effective in their duties, clarify their roles, and reveal
weaknesses in the OR management system that should be corrected. A commitment to testing lends
credibility and authority to the OR management system.

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The first step in testing should be the setting of goals and expectations. A critical goal is to determine
whether a certain crisis response process works and how it can be improved. Other examples of goals
include:
a) Capacity testing (e.g., the capacity of a call-in or call-out phone system);
b) Reduce the time necessary for accomplishment of a process (e.g., using repeated drills to
shorten response times); and
c) Bring awareness and knowledge to the general employee population about the OR
management system.

Lessons learned from previous tests, as well as actual incidents experienced, should be built into the
testing cycle for the OR management system.
The responsibility for testing the OR management system should be assigned. Larger organizations
may consider establishing a Test Team. Where appropriate, the expertise of external resources
(consultants, local emergency organizations, etc.) can be leveraged.
A test schedule and timeline as to how often the plan and its components will be tested should be
established.
The scope of testing should be planned to develop over time. Tests should start out relatively simple,
becoming increasingly complex as the test process evolves. Early tests may include checklists, simple
exercises, and small components of the OR management system. As the test schedules evolve, tests
should become increasingly complex, up to a full-scale activation of the entire OR management system,
including external participation by public safety and emergency responders.
There are several roles that test participants can fill. All participants should understand their roles in
the exercise, and the exercise should involve all participants. Various groups from the organization
itself, as well as from the public sector, can participate in the tests. As part of the exercise, participants
should be allowed to interact and discuss issues and lessons.
After completion, the exercises and tests should be critically evaluated. The evaluation should include,
among other things, an assessment of how well the goals and objectives of the test were achieved, the
effectiveness of participation, and whether the OR management system itself will function as
anticipated in the case of a real crisis. Future testing, as well as the OR management system itself,
should then be modified as necessary based on the test results.
Design of tests should be evaluated and modified as necessary. They should be dynamic, taking into
account changes to the OR management system, personnel turnover, actual incidents, and results from
previous exercises.
Exercise and test results should be documented.

A.5.3 Nonconformity, Corrective Action, and Preventive Action


Depending on the nature of the nonconformity, in establishing procedures to deal with these
requirements, organizations may be able to accomplish them with a minimum of formal planning, or it
may be a more complex and long-term activity. Any documentation should be appropriate to the level
of action.
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A.5.4 Control of Records


Management system records can include, among others:
a) Compliance records;
b) Training records;
c) Process monitoring records;
d) Inspection, maintenance, and calibration records;
e) Pertinent contractor and supplier records;
f) Incident reports;
g) Records of incident and emergency preparedness tests;
h) Audit results;
i) Management review results;
j) External communications decision;
k) Records of applicable legal requirements;
l) Records of significant risk and impacts;
m) Records of management systems meetings;
n) Security, preparedness, response, continuity, and recovery performance information;
o) Legal compliance records; and
p) Communications with stakeholders and interested parties.

Proper account should be taken of confidential information.


Organizations should ensure the integrity of records by rendering them tamperproof, securely backed-
up, accessible only to authorized personnel, and protected from damage, deterioration, or loss.
The organization should consult with the appropriate legal authority within their organization to
determine the appropriate period of time the documents should be retained and establish, implement,
and maintain the processes to effectively do so.

NOTE: Records are not the sole source of evidence to demonstrate conformity to this Standard.

A.5.5 Internal Audit


Internal audits of an OR management system can be performed by personnel from within the
organization or by external persons selected by the organization, working on its behalf. In either case,
the persons conducting the audit should be competent and in a position to do so impartially and
objectively. In smaller organizations, auditor independence can be demonstrated by an auditor being
free from responsibility for the activity being audited.

NOTE: If an organization wishes to combine audits of its OR management system with security, safety, or
environmental audits, the intent and scope of each should be clearly defined.

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A.6 Management Review


The management review should cover the scope of the OR management system, although not all
elements of the OR management system need to be reviewed at once and the review process may take
place over a period of time.
The OR management system should be regularly reviewed and evaluated. Reviews should occur
according to a pre-determined schedule, and documentation of the review should be maintained as
necessary. The following factors can trigger a review and should otherwise be examined once a review
is scheduled:
a) Risk assessment and impact analysis: The OR management system should be reviewed every time
a risk assessment is completed for the organization. The results of the risk assessment and
impact analysis can be used to determine whether the OR management system continues to
adequately address the risks facing the organization.
b) Sector/industry trends: Major sector/industry initiatives should initiate an OR management
system review. General trends in the sector/industry and in business/operational continuity
planning techniques can be used for benchmarking purposes.
c) Regulatory requirements: New regulatory requirements may require a review of the OR
management system.
d) Event experience: A review should be performed following a response to disruptive incident,
whether the response plan was activated or not. If the plan was activated, the review should
take into account the history of the plan itself, how it worked, why it was activated, etc. If the
plan was not activated, the review should examine why and whether this was an appropriate
decision.
e) Test and exercise results: Based on test and exercise results, the OR management system should
be modified as necessary.

Continual improvement and OR management system maintenance should reflect changes in the risks,
activities, functions, and operation of the organization that will affect the OR management system. The
following are examples of procedures, systems, or processes that may affect the plan:
a) Policy changes;
b) Hazards and threat changes;
c) Changes to the organization and its business processes;
d) Changes in assumptions in risk assessment and impact analysis;
e) Personnel changes (employees and contractors);
f) Supplier and supply chain changes;
g) Process and technology changes;
h) Systems and application software changes;
i) Critical lessons learned from testing;
j) Issues discovered during actual implementation of the plan in a crisis;

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k) Changes to external environment (new businesses in area, new roads or changes to existing
traffic patterns, etc.); and
l) Other items noted during review of the plan and identified during the risk assessment and
impact analysis.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

Annex B
(informative)

B COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS


This Standard is aligned with ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004, ISO/IEC 27001:2005, and ISO 28000:2007 in
order to support consistent and integrated implementation and operation with related management
standards. One suitably designed management system can thus satisfy the requirements of all these
standards.
The integrated approach can help avoid segregating or “siloing” risks, and provides an overall risk
profile allowing the organization to better understand the relationships between risks and identify
solutions to problems. It leverages the perspectives, knowledge, and capabilities of divisions and
individuals within an organization. Because of the relatively low probability and yet potentially high
consequence nature of many natural, intentional, or unintentional threats and hazards that an
organization may face, an integrated approach allows an organization to establish priorities that
address its individual needs for risk management within an economically sound context.
For example, this Standard may be applied in parallel to or integrated with ISO 14001:2004,
Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use. The management approach
contains all the elements required for implementation of the ISO 14001:2004. In order to conduct a
parallel or integrated application, the risk assessment and impact analysis should include consideration
of:
♦ Environmental aspects: Elements of an organization’s activities or products or services that can
interact with the environment. A significant environmental aspect has or can have a significant
environmental impact.
♦ Environmental impact: Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or
partially resulting from an organization’s environmental aspects.

Reduction, removal, and management of an organization’s hazardous materials will provide proactive
benefits from both the environmental and security perspectives by providing protection from and
response to risks of unintentionally, intentionally, and naturally-caused events.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

Table 1: Correspondence between ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004,


ISO 27001:2005, and this Standard of Best Practices
Organizational Resilience
ISO 9001:2000 ISO 14001:2004 ISO 27001:2005
Management System Standard

0 Introduction 0 Introduction Introduction 0 Introduction


0.1 General 0.1 General 0.1 General
0.2 Process approach 0.2 Process approach 0.2 Process approach
0.3 Qualifications 0.3 Relationship with ISO 0.3 Compatibility with other
0.4 Process approach 9004 management systems
Annex B: Compatibility with other 0.4 Compatibility with
management systems other management
systems

1 Scope 1 Scope 1 Scope


1.1 General 1.1 General
1.2 Application 1.2 Application

2 Normative references 2 Normative reference 2 Normative reference 2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions 3 Terms and definitions 3 Terms and definitions 3 Terms and definitions

4 Organizational Resilience (OR) 4 Quality management 4 Environmental 4 Information security


management system system management system management system (ISMS)
requirements
4.1 General requirements 4.1 General requirements 4.1 General requirements 4.1 General requirements
4.1.1 Scope of the OR management 5 Management 4.2 Environmental policy 4.2 Establishing and managing
system responsibility the ISMS
4.2 OR management policy 5.1 Management 4.2.1 Establish the ISMS
4.2.1 Policy statement commitment 4.2.2 Implement and operate
4.2.2 Management commitment 5.2 Customer focus the ISMS
5.3 Quality policy 4.2.3 Monitor and review the
5.4 Planning ISMS
5.5 Responsibility, 4.2.4 Maintain and improve the
authority and ISMS
communication 5 Management responsibility
5.1 Management commitment

4.3 Planning 7 Product realization 4.3 Planning 4.2 Establishing and


4.3.1 Risk assessment and impact 7.1 Planning of product 4.3.1 Environmental managing the ISMS
analysis realization aspects 4.2.1 Establish the ISMS
4.3.2 Legal and other requirements 7.2 Customer-related 4.3.2 Legal and other 4.2.2 Implement and operate
4.3.3 Objectives, targets and processes requirements the ISMS
program(s) 7.2.1 Determination of 4.3.3 Objectives, targets
requirements related to the and program(s)
product
7.2.2 Review of
requirements related to the
product

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

Organizational Resilience
ISO 9001:2000 ISO 14001:2004 ISO 27001:2005
Management System Standard

4.4 Implementation and operation 6 Resource management 4.4 Implementation and 5.2 Resource management
4.4.1 Resources, roles, 6.1 Provision of resources operation 5.2.1 Provision of resources
responsibility and authority 6.2 Human resources 4.4.1 Resources, roles, 5.2.2 Training, awareness and
4.4.2 Competence, training and 6.2.2 Competence, responsibility and authority competence
awareness awareness and training 4.4.2 Competence, 4.3 Documentation
4.4.3 Communication and warning 6.3 Infrastructure training, and awareness requirements
4.4.4 Documentation 6.4 Work environment 4.4.3 Communication and 4.3.1 General
4.4.5 Control of documents 7.2.3 Customer warning 4.3.2 Control of documents
4.4.6 Operational control communication 4.4.4 Documentation
4.4.7 Incident preparedness and 4.2 Documentation 4.4.5 Control of documents
response requirements 4.4.6 Operational control
4.2.1 General 4.4.7 Emergency
4.2.2 Quality manual preparedness and
4.2.3 Control of documents response
7.3 Design and
development
7.4 Purchasing
7.5 Product and service
provision

4.5 Checking 7.6 Control of monitoring 4.5 Checking 4.2.3 Monitor and review the
4.5.1 Monitoring and measuring and measuring devices 4.5.1 Monitoring and ISMS
4.5.2 Evaluation of compliance and 8.2.3 Monitoring and measurement 8.2 Corrective action
system performance measurement of processes 4.5.2 Evaluation of 8.3 Preventive action
4.5.2.1 Evaluation of compliance 8.2.4 Monitoring and compliance 4.3.3 Control of records
4.5.2.2 Exercises and testing measurement of product 4.5.3 Nonconformity, 6 Internal ISMS audits
4.5.3 Nonconformity, corrective 8.3 Control of corrective action and
action and preventive action nonconforming product preventive action
4.5.4 Control of records 8.5.3 Corrective actions 4.5.4 Control of records
4.5.5 Internal audits 8.5.3 Preventive actions 4.5.5 Internal audits
4.2.4 Control of records
8.2.2 Internal Audit
8.4 Analysis of data

4.6 Management review 5.6 Management review 4.6 Management review 7 Management review of the
4.6.2 General 5.6.1 General ISMS
4.6.2 Review of Input 5.6.2 Review input 7.1 General
4.6.3 Review of output 5.6.3 Review output 7.2 Review input
4.6.4 Maintenance 8.5 Improvement 7.3 Review output
4.6.5 Continual improvement 8.5.1 Continual 4.2.4 Maintain and improve
improvement
8 ISMS improvement
8.1 Continual improvement he
ISMS

Annex A Control objectives and Annex A Annex A Guidance on the Annex A Control objectives
controls Correspondence between use of this International and controls
Annex B Correspondence ISO 9001:2000 and ISO Standard Annex B OECD principles and
between ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:1996 Annex B this International Standard
14001:2004, ISO 27001:2005 and Correspondence between Annex C Correspondence
this Standard of Best Practices ISO 14001:2004 and ISO between ISO 9001:2000, ISO
9001:2000 14001:2004 and this
International Standard

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

Annex C
(informative)

C TERMINOLOGY CONVENTIONS
The terminology conventions in Table 2 are in accordance with ISO/IEC – Directives Part 2: Rules for the
structure and drafting on International Standards, Annex H, Verbal forms for the expression of provisions, 2004.

Table 2: Verbal forms for the expression of provisions

Verbal form Usage (ISO/IEC – Directives Part 2: Rules for the structure and
drafting on International Standards)
shall Auditable requirements of a document – “used to indicate
requirements strictly to be followed in order to conform to the
document and from which no deviation is permitted.”
should Recommendations – “used to indicate that among several possibilities
one is recommended as particularly suitable, without mentioning or
excluding others, or that a certain course of action is preferred but not
necessarily required, or that (in the negative form) a certain possibility
or course of action is deprecated but not prohibited.”
may Permission – “used to indicate a course of action permissible within
the limits of the document.”
can Possibility and capability – “used for statements of possibility and
capability, whether material, physical or causal.”

Items presented in lists shall not be construed to be exhaustive, unless otherwise stated. Nor shall the
order of the list be viewed as specifying a sequence or priority, unless so stated. The generic nature of
this Standard allows for organization to include additional items as well as designation of a sequence or
priority based on the specific operating conditions and circumstances of the organization.

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Annex D
(normative)

D GLOSSARY
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC Guide 73 and the
following definitions apply.

D.1 acceptable downtime: Maximum elapsed time between a disruption and restoration of needed
operational capacity or capability.
D.2 alternate worksite: A work location, other than the primary location, to be used when the
primary location is not accessible. [ASIS International Business Continuity Guideline: 2005]
D.3 asset: Anything that has value to the organization. [ISO/IEC 13335-1:2004]
D.4 auditor: Person with competence to conduct an audit. [ISO 9001:2000]
D.5 continual improvement: Recurring process of enhancing the organizational resilience (OR)
management system in order to achieve improvements in overall OR management performance
consistent with the organization’s OR management policy.
NOTE: The process need not take place in all areas of activity simultaneously.
D.6 corrective action: Action to eliminate the cause of a detected nonconformity. [ISO 14001:2004]
D.7 critical activity: Any function or process that is essential for the organization to deliver its
products and/or services. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.8 criticality assessment: A process designed to systematically identify and evaluate an
organization’s assets based on the importance of its mission or function, the group of people at risk, or
the significance of a disruption on the continuity of the organization.
D.9 conformity: Fulfillment of a requirement.
D.10 consequence: Outcome of an event. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE 1: There can be more than one consequence from one event.
NOTE 2: Consequences can range from positive to negative.
NOTE 3: Consequences can be expressed qualitatively or quantitatively.
D.11 continuity: Strategic and tactical capability, pre-approved by management, of an organization to
plan for and respond to conditions, situations, and events in order to continue operations at an
acceptable predefined level.
NOTE: Continuity, as used in this Standard, is the more general term for operational and business continuity to
ensure an organization’s ability to continue operating outside of normal operating conditions. It applies not only to for-
profit companies, but organizations of all natures, such as non-governmental, public interest, and governmental
organizations.
D.12 continuity strategy: Approach by an organization intended to ensure continuity and ability to
recover in the face of a disruptive event, emergency, crisis, or other major outage.
D.13 crisis: An unstable condition involving an impending abrupt or significant change that requires
urgent attention and action to protect life, assets, property, or the environment.
D.14 crisis management: Holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten
an organization and provides a framework for building resilience, with the capability for an effective

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response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand, and value-creating
activities – as well as effectively restoring operational capabilities.
NOTE: Crisis management also involves the management of preparedness, mitigation response, and continuity or
recovery in the event of an incident – as well as management of the overall program through training, rehearsals, and
reviews to ensure the preparedness, response, and continuity plans stays current and up-to-date.
D.15 crisis management team: Group of individuals functionally responsible for directing the
development and execution of the response and operational continuity plan, declaring an operational
disruption or emergency/crisis situation, and providing direction during the recovery process, both
pre-and post-disruptive incident.
NOTE: The crisis management team may include individuals from the organization as well as immediate and first
responders, stakeholders, and other interested parties.
D.16 criticality: Of essential importance with respect to objectives and/or outcomes.
D.17 damaging potential: Harmful potential of an event, whether anticipated or unanticipated, that
would impact on the ability of the organization to function effectively, cause critical harm to
infrastructure, result in significant human or property losses to the organization or its stakeholders, or
cause adverse effects to the reputation or integrity of the organization.
D.18 disaster: Event that causes great damage or loss. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.19 disruption: An event that interrupts normal business, functions, operations, or processes,
whether anticipated (e.g., hurricane, political unrest) or unanticipated (e.g., a blackout, terror attack,
technology failure, or earthquake).
NOTE: A disruption can be caused by either positive or negative factors that will disrupt normal functions, operations,
or processes.
D.20 document: Information and supporting medium. [ISO 9000:2000]
NOTE: The medium can be paper, magnetic, electronic or optical computer disc, photography or master sample, or a
combination thereof.
D.21 emergency: Sudden, urgent, usually unexpected occurrence or event requiring immediate action.
[ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
NOTE: An emergency is usually a disruptive event or condition that can often be anticipated or prepared for, but
seldom exactly foreseen.
D.22 exercises: Evaluating OR management programs, rehearsing the roles of team members and
staff, and testing the recovery or continuity of an organization’s systems (e.g., technology, telephony,
administration) to demonstrate OR management competence and capability.
NOTE 1: Exercises include activities performed for the purpose of training and conditioning team members and
personnel in appropriate responses with the goal of achieving maximum performance.
NOTE 2: An exercise can involve invoking response and operational continuity procedures, but is more likely to
involve the simulation of an response and/or operational continuity incident, announced or unannounced, in which
participants role-play in order to assess what issues might arise, prior to a real invocation.
D.23 evacuation: Organized, phased, and supervised dispersal of people from dangerous or
potentially dangerous areas. [ASIS International Business Continuity Guideline: 2005]
D.24 event: Occurrence or change of a particular set of circumstances. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE 1: Nature, likelihood, and consequence of an event can not be fully knowable.
NOTE 2: An event can be one or more occurrences, and can have several causes.
NOTE 3: Likelihood associated with the event can be determined.
NOTE 4: An event can consist of a non occurrence of one or more circumstances.
NOTE 5: An event with a consequence is sometimes referred to as “incident”.
D.25 facility (infrastructure): Plant, machinery, equipment, property, buildings, vehicles, information
systems, transportation facilities, and other items of infrastructure or plant and related systems that
have a distinct and quantifiable function or service.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

D.26 hazard: Possible source of danger, or conditions (physical or operational) that have a capacity to
produce a particular type of adverse effects. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.27 impact: Evaluated consequence of a particular outcome. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.28 impact analysis: Process of analyzing all operational functions and the effect that an operational
interruption might have upon them.
NOTE: Impact analysis includes Business Impact Analysis – the identification of critical business assets, functions,
processes, and resources as well as an evaluation of the potential damage or loss that may be caused to the
organization resulting from a disruption (or a change in the business or operating environment). Impact analysis
identifies: 1) how the loss or damage will manifest itself; 2) how that degree for potential escalation of damage or loss
with time following an Incident; 3) the minimum services and resources (human, physical, and financial) needed to
enable business processes to continue to operate at a minimum acceptable level; and 4) the timeframe and extent
within which activities, functions, and services of the organization should be recovered.
D.29 incident: Event that has the capacity to lead to human, intangible or physical loss, or a
disruption of an organization’s operations, services, or functions – which, if not managed, can escalate
into an emergency, crisis, or disaster.
D.30 integrity: The property of safeguarding the accuracy and completeness of assets. [ISO/IEC 13335-
1:2004]
D.31 internal audit: Systematic, independent, and documented process for obtaining audit evidence
and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which the management system audit criteria set
by the organization are fulfilled.
NOTE: In many cases, particularly in smaller organizations, independence can be demonstrated by the freedom from
responsibility for the activity being audited.
D.32 management plan: Clearly defined and documented plan of action, typically covering the key
personnel, resources, services, and actions needed to implement the incident management process.
D.33 mitigation: Limitation of any negative consequence of a particular incident. [ISO/PAS
22399:2007]
D.34 mutual aid agreement: Pre-arranged agreement developed between two or more entities to
render assistance to the parties of the agreement. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.35 nonconformity: Non-fulfillment of a requirement. [ISO 9000:2000]
D.36 objective: Overall goal, consistent with the policy that an organization sets itself to achieve. [ISO
14001:2004]
D.37 organization: Group of people and facilities with an arrangement of responsibilities, authorities,
and relationships. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
NOTE: An organization can be a government or public entity, company, corporation, firm, enterprise, institution,
charity, sole trade or association, or parts or combinations thereof.
D.38 organizational resilience (OR) management: Systematic and coordinated activities and practices
through which an organization manages its operational risks, and the associated potential threats and
impacts therein.
D.39 organizational resilience (OR) management program: Ongoing management and governance
process supported by top management; resourced to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to
identify the impact of potential losses; maintain viable recovery strategies and plans; and ensure
continuity of functions/products/services through exercising, rehearsal, testing, training, maintenance,
and assurance.
D.40 policy: Overall intentions and direction of an organization, as formally expressed by top
management.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

D.41 preparedness (readiness): Activities, programs, and systems developed and implemented prior
to an incident that may be used to support and enhance mitigation of, response to, and recovery from
disruptions, disasters, or emergencies.
D.42 prevention: Measures that enable an organization to avoid, preclude, or limit the impact of a
disruption. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.43 preventive action: Action to eliminate the cause of a potential nonconformity. [ISO 14001:2004]
D.44 prevention of hazards and threats: Process, practices, techniques, materials, products, services,
or resources used to avoid, reduce, or control hazards and threats and their associated risks of any type
in order to reduce their potential impact.
D.45 probability: Extent to which an event is likely to occur. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE 1: ISO 3534-1:1993, Definition 1.1, gives the mathematical definition of probability as “a real number in the
scale of 0 to 1 attached to a random event. It can be related to a long-run relative frequency of occurrence or to a
degree of belief that an event will occur. For a high degree of belief, the probability is near 1.”
NOTE 2: Frequency rather than probability may be used to describe risk.
NOTE 3: Degrees of belief about probability can be chosen as classes or ranks, such as:
- rare/unlikely/moderate/likely/almost certain; or
- incredible/improbable/remote/occasional/probable/frequent.
D.46 procedure: Specified way to carry out an activity. [ISO 9000:2000]
NOTE: Procedures can be documented or not.
D.47 record: Document stating results achieved or providing evidence of activities performed. [ISO
9000:2000]
D.48 recovery time objective (RTO): Time goal for the restoration and recovery of functions or
resources based on the acceptable down time and acceptable level of performance in case of a
disruption of operations.
D.49 residual risk : Risk remaining after risk treatment. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.50 resilience: The adaptive capacity of an organization in a complex and changing environment.
NOTE 1: Resilience is the ability of an organization to resist being affected by an event or the ability to return to an
acceptable level of performance in an acceptable period of time after being affected by an event.
NOTE 2: Resilience is the capability of a system to maintain its functions and structure in the face of internal and
external change and to degrade gracefully when it must.

D.51 resources: Any asset (human, physical, information or intangible), facilities, equipment,
materials, products or waste that has potential value and can be used.
D.52 response plan: Documented collection of procedures and information that is developed,
compiled, and maintained in readiness for use in an incident.
D.53 response program: Plan, processes, and resources to perform the activities and services
necessary to preserve and protect life, property, operations, and critical assets. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
NOTE: Response steps generally include incident recognition, notification, assessment, declaration, plan execution,
communications, and resources management
D.54 response team: Group of individuals responsible for developing, executing, rehearsing, and
maintaining the response plan, including the processes and procedures.
D.55 risk: Effect of uncertainty on objectives. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE 1: An effect is a deviation from the expected – positive and/or negative.
NOTE 2: Objectives can have different aspects such as financial, health and safety, and environmental goals and can
apply at different levels such as strategic, organization-wide, project, product, and process.
NOTE 3: Risk is often characterized by reference to potential events, consequences, or a combination of these and
how they can affect the achievement of objectives.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

NOTE 4: Risk is often expressed in terms of a combination of the consequences of an event or a change in
circumstances, and the associated likelihood of occurrence.
D.56 risk acceptance: Informed decision to take a particular risk. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE 1: Risk acceptance can occur without risk treatment or during the process of risk treatment.
NOTE 2: Risk acceptance can also be a process.
NOTE 3: Risks accepted are subject to monitoring and review.
D.57 risk analysis: Process to comprehend the nature of risk and to determine the level of risk.
[ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE: Risk analysis provides the basis for risk evaluation and decisions about risk treatment.
D.58 risk assessment: Overall process of risk identification, risk analysis, and risk evaluation.
NOTE: Risk assessment involves the process of identifying internal and external threats and vulnerabilities,
identifying the probability and impact of an event arising from such threats or vulnerabilities, defining critical functions
necessary to continue the organization’s operations, defining the controls in place necessary to reduce exposure, and
evaluating the cost of such controls.
D.59 risk communication: Exchange or sharing of information about risk between the decision-maker
and other stakeholders. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE: The information can relate to the existence, nature, form, probability, severity, acceptability, treatment, or
other aspects of risk.
D.60 risk criteria: Terms of reference by which the significance of risk is assessed. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE: Risk criteria can include associated cost and benefits, legal and statutory requirements, socio-economic and
environmental aspects, the concerns of stakeholders, priorities, and other inputs to the assessment.
D.61 risk management: Coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to
risk. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE: Risk management generally includes risk assessment, risk treatment, risk acceptance, and risk
communication.
D.62 risk reduction: Actions taken to lessen the probability, negative consequences, or both,
associated with a risk. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
D.63 risk tolerance: Organization’s readiness to bear the risk after risk treatments in order to achieve
its objectives. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE Risk tolerance can be limited by legal or regulatory requirements.
D.64 risk transfer: Sharing with another party the burden of loss or benefit or gain, for a risk.
[ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE 1: Legal or statutory requirements can limit, prohibit ,or mandate the transfer of certain risk.
NOTE 2: Risk transfer can be carried out through insurance or other agreements.
NOTE 3: Risk transfer can create new risks or modify existing risks.
NOTE 4: Relocation of the source is not risk transfer.
D.65 risk treatment: Process of selection and implementation of measures to modify risk. [ISO/IEC
Guide 73]
NOTE 1: The term “risk treatment” is sometimes used for the measures themselves.
NOTE 2: Risk treatment measures can include avoiding, optimizing, transferring, or retaining risk.
D.66 security: The condition of being protected against hazards, threats, risks, or loss.
NOTE 1: In the general sense, security is a concept similar to safety. The distinction between the two is an added
emphasis on being protected from dangers that originate from outside.
NOTE 2: The term "security" means that something not only is secure but that it has been secured.
D.67 security aspects: Those characteristics, elements, or properties which reduce the risk of
unintentionally, intentionally, and naturally-caused crises and disasters that disrupt and have
consequences on the products and services, operation, critical assets, and continuity of the organization
and its stakeholders.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

D.68 simulation exercise: Test performed under conditions as close as practicable to real world
conditions. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
D.69 source: Anything which alone or in combination has the intrinsic potential to give rise to risk.
[ISO/IEC Guide 73]
NOTE: A risk source can be tangible or intangible.
D.70 stakeholder (interested party): Person or group having an interest in the performance or success
of an organization. [ISO/PAS 22399:2007]
NOTE: The term includes persons and groups with an interest in an organization, its activities and its achievements –
e.g., customers, clients, partners, employees, shareholders, owners, vendors, the local community, first responders,
government agencies, and regulators.
D.71 supply chain: The linked set of resources and processes that begins with the acquisition of raw
material and extends through the delivery of products or services to the end user across the modes of
transport. The supply chain may include suppliers, vendors, manufacturing facilities, logistics
providers, internal distribution centers, distributors, wholesalers, and other entities that lead to the end
user.
D.72 target: Detailed performance requirement applicable to the organization (or parts thereof) that
arises from the objectives and that needs to be set and met in order to achieve those objectives. [ISO
14001:2004]
D.73 testing: Activities performed to evaluate the effectiveness or capabilities of a plan relative to
specified objectives or measurement criteria. Testing usually involves exercises designed to keep teams
and employees effective in their duties, and to reveal weaknesses in the preparedness and
response/continuity/recovery plans. [ASIS International Business Continuity Guideline: 2005]
D.74 threat: Potential cause of an unwanted incident, which may result in harm to individuals, assets,
a system or organization, the environment, or the community.
D.75 top management: Directors, managers, and officers of an organization that can ensure effective
management systems – including financial monitoring and control systems – have been put in place to
protect assets, earning capacity, and the reputation of the organization.
D.76 vulnerability: Intrinsic properties of something that create susceptibility to a source of risk
(D.53) that can lead to a consequence. [ISO/IEC Guide 73]
D.77 vulnerability assessment: The process of identifying and quantifying vulnerabilities.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

Annex E
(informative)

E QUALIFICATIONS
The adoption and implementation of a range of security, preparedness, and continuity management
techniques in a systematic manner can contribute to optimal outcomes for all stakeholders and affected
parties. However, adoption of this Standard will not by itself guarantee optimal security, preparedness,
continuity, and response outcomes. In order to achieve its objectives, the OR management system
should incorporate the best available practices, techniques, and technologies, where appropriate and
where economically viable. The cost-effectiveness of such practices, techniques, and technologies
should be taken fully into account.
This Standard does not establish absolute requirements for security, preparedness, response, continuity,
or recovery performance beyond commitments in the organization’s policy to:
a) Comply with applicable legal requirements and with other requirements to which the
organization subscribes;
b) Support critical risk prevention and minimization; and
c) Promote continual improvement.

The main body of this Standard contains only those generic criteria that may be objectively audited.
Guidance on supporting OR management techniques is contained in the other annexes of this
document.
This Standard, like other management standards, is not intended to be used to create non-tariff trade
barriers or to increase or change an organization’s legal obligations. Indeed, compliance with a
standard does not in itself confer immunity from legal obligations. For organizations that so wish, an
external or internal auditing process may verify compliance of their OR management system to this
Standard. Verification may be by an acceptable first-, second-, or third-party mechanism. Verification
does not require third-party certification.
This Standard does not include requirements specific to other management systems such as those for
quality, occupational health and safety, or financial risk management – though its elements can be
aligned or integrated with those of other management systems. It is possible for an organization to
adapt its existing management system(s) in order to establish an OR management system that
conforms to the criteria of this Standard. It should be understood, however, that the application of
various elements of the management system might differ depending on the intended purpose and the
stakeholders involved.
The level of detail and complexity of the OR management system, the extent of documentation, and the
resources devoted to it will be dependent on a number of factors – such as the scope of the system; the
size of an organization; and the nature of its activities, products, and services. This may be the case in
particular for small and medium-sized enterprises.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

This Standard provides a common set of criteria for security management, preparedness, emergency
management, disaster management, crisis management, and business continuity management
programs. Terminology used in this standard emphasizes commonality of concepts, while
acknowledging nuances in term usage in the various disciplines. For example, risk assessment
includes analysis of risk, vulnerability, criticality, and impacts (consequences); however, some
disciplines emphasize impact analysis. Therefore, in this document, the overall process is referred to as
“risk assessment and impact analysis”.

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ASIS SPC.1-2009, ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE STANDARD

Annex F
(informative)

F BIBLIOGRAPHY
F.1 ASIS Publications
NOTE: The document below is available from ASIS. < http://www.asisonline.org/guidelines/ >

Business Continuity Guideline: A Practical Approach for Emergency Preparedness, Crisis Management, and
Disaster Recovery, 2005.

F.2 ISO Standards Publications


NOTE: All documents below are available from the International Organization for Standardization.
< http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/prods-services/ISOstore/store.html >

[1] ISO 9001:2000, Quality management systems — Requirements.


[2] ISO 14001:2004, Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use.
[3] ISO/IEC TR 18044:2004, Information technology — Security techniques — Information security incident
management.
[4] ISO 19011:2002, Guidelines for quality and/or environmental management systems auditing.
[5] ISO/IEC 27001:2005, Information technology — Security techniques — Information security management
systems — Requirements.
[6] ISO 28000:2007, Specification for security management systems for the supply chain.
[7] ISO/PAS 22399:2007 Societal Security – Guidelines for incident preparedness and operational continuity
management.
[8] ISO/IEC Guide 73:2002, Risk management — Vocabulary — Guidelines for use in standards.

53
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